The SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitoring is a tamper-resistant ankle bracelet that tests your sweat for blood alcohol concentration (“BAC”) every 30 minutes. Use of the SCRAM device is often ordered as a jail alternative or condition of probation in a DUI case.
Here are four key things to know:
- A BAC reading of .02% or higher violates your probation.
- After each test, the device wirelessly transmits the results to a regional monitoring center.
- The device with house arrest monitoring is known as the “SCRAMx.”
- Offenses for which judges order the SCRAM program are:
Our California DUI defense lawyers answer the following frequently-asked-questions below:
- 1. What is the SCRAM CAM system?
- 2. What is SCRAMx?
- 3. How does continuous alcohol monitoring (CAM) system work?
- 4. Who is required to wear a SCRAM?
- 5. In what kinds of cases can a SCRAM device be used?
- 6. How long do I have to wear one?
- 7. How much does it cost?
- 8. Where can I get a SCRAM device?
- 9. Can I remove it?
- 10. Can I work and go to school?
- 11. Will I get credit for “time served” by wearing it?
- 12. Can I shower or take a bath?
- 13. What if alcohol spills on me?
- 14. What if I need to take medicine that has alcohol in it?
- Additional Resources
1. What is the SCRAM CAM system?
SCRAM – short for “Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor” – is a remote alcohol monitoring system developed and marketed by Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. (AMS). It consists of an ankle bracelet that you wear 24/7. The bracelet is both
- tamper-proof and
- water-resistant.
The bracelet’s sensors check your sweat every 30 minutes for the presence of alcohol. The results are then transmitted, usually daily, to a regional monitoring system. If you are considered high-risk, the data may be transmitted more frequently.
If alcohol is detected in your system, the court will then be notified (usually within 24 hours).1
You may be able to avoid jail for a DUI conviction by wearing an alcohol-detection anklet.
2. What is SCRAMx?
SCRAMx is a SCRAM ankle bracelet that also contains a radio frequency (“RF”) house-arrest monitoring system. It can thus check for both:
- alcohol use and
- your presence in, or absence from, the home.2
3. How does continuous alcohol monitoring (CAM) system work?
SCRAM devices use “transdermal alcohol testing.” “Transdermal” means “through the skin.” CAM devices work because a small portion of consumed alcohol gets excreted through your skin via your sweat.
The way the device works is this:
Alcohol in the bloodstream is eliminated from your body, mostly through urine. Though a small amount is also excreted in your
- breath,
- sweat and
- saliva.3
That is why DUI breath tests, for instance, are able to detect alcohol.
About 1% of ingested alcohol escapes your body through “insensible perspiration.” This consists of a slight amount of ethanol vapor that passes through the skin.4
In other words, you “sweat out” a small portion of the alcohol from any alcohol consumption. The CAM system measures this sweat through the skin of your ankle.
4. Who is required to wear a SCRAM?
You may be required to wear an alcohol-detection device whenever not drinking alcohol is a condition of staying out of jail. Often, the court orders it as a condition of DUI probation to verify that you are, indeed, not drinking.5
In most cases, judges only order that you wear this device when you have:
- prior DUI convictions and
- a serious alcohol dependence or addiction.
5. In what kinds of cases can a SCRAM device be used?
In addition to adult DUI sentencing and probation, SCRAM is often used:
- As a condition of the bond during pretrial supervision;
- As part of a specialty court program, such as:
- As a condition of early parole (if you are released early due to jail or prison overcrowding);
- To support offender re-entry programs;
- As part of a sentence or probation condition for domestic violence (when alcohol was a contributing factor in their offense); and
- To help if you are convicted of violating underage drunk driving laws.6
6. How long do I have to wear one?
A judge can require you to wear the SCRAM bracelet/ anklet for any period of time. Typical periods range from 30 days to more than a year.
Factors the judge will consider in setting how much time you must wear the device include:
- The seriousness of the present offense,
- The number of prior DUI convictions, and
- The extent of your problem with alcohol.7
7. How much does it cost?
The cost to install the SCRAM system typically ranges from $50 to $100. Thereafter there is a daily monitoring fee of:
- $10-$12 per day for continuous alcohol monitoring (CAM) alone, or
- $13-$15 per day for CAM with house arrest monitoring.
However, costs may vary depending on:
- how much money you make,
- the monitoring period, and
- whether there is service provider in your area.8
Generally, you must pay for the program yourself. Though if you are indigent, the court system may absorb part of the cost.
Local authorized service partners may sometimes lend a small portion of their inventory to you at no cost if you are indigent.
8. Where can I get a SCRAM device?
SCRAM systems are available from various local service providers. You must contact a local service provider in California once a judge issues the order to wear one.
9. Can I remove it?
The SCRAM device is difficult to remove, but it can be done. However, if you start tampering or removing the device, it will alert the Regional Monitoring Center.
The center will then notify the court. The judge may then schedule a hearing (such as a probation violation hearing) to determine whether to send you to jail.9
10. Can I work and go to school?
The SCRAM program is not a form of house arrest. Therefore you still can
- work,
- attend school,
- get alcohol treatment, and
- otherwise go about your life.
The SCRAMx program, however, includes monitoring for both
- house arrest and
- alcohol use.
House arrest can be total or can be based on a curfew.
The exact terms under which you can leave and how far you can go will be determined by the court. If you leave during the period you must be home, an alert will be generated.10
11. Will I get credit for “time served” by wearing it?
SCRAM wearers are not sentenced to confinement. So there is no credit for time served while wearing the device.
However, SCRAMx systems are only ordered when you are sentenced to house arrest. Since you are in confinement (even if you are free to leave at certain times for certain purposes), credit is usually given for time served.11
12. Can I shower or take a bath?
Yes to showering; no to taking a bath. SCRAM users are not allowed to submerge the bracelet in water (including swimming pools, hot tubs, and the bathtub).
You can shower and, in fact, need to in order to keep the area around the bracelet clean.12
13. What if alcohol spills on me?
SCRAM devices can tell the difference between
- consumed alcohol and
- alcohol in the environment.
In some cases, defendants have tried to trick the system by spilling a drink on it or otherwise exposing it to alcohol.
While this will cause a “spike” in the bracelet’s data, it will show a different pattern than consumed alcohol. However, you must sign an agreement not to use products containing alcohol on or around the bracelet.
Accidentally exposing the device to alcohol will not generally be considered a violation. However, intentionally trying to trick the device can subject you to court sanctions.13
14. What if I need to take medicine that has alcohol in it?
Taking medicines as directed should not result in a false positive. If you were to consume enough to become intoxicated, it would be a violation of the court’s order, even though it came from medicine.
The same is true of
- mouthwashes,
- breath sprays and other
- consumer products containing alcohol.
Additional Resources
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Effectiveness of contingency management using transdermal alcohol monitoring to reduce heavy drinking among driving while intoxicated (DWI) arrestees: A randomized controlled trial – Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research.
- Emerging Technological Approaches for Controlling the Hard Core DUI Offender in the U.S. – Traffic Injury Prevention.
- Challenging SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitor Evidence as Unreliable and Insufficient – The Champion.
- The effectiveness of alcohol monitoring as a treatment for driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) offenders: A literature review and synthesis – Traffic Injury Prevention.
- Transdermal alcohol monitoring combined with contingency management for driving while impaired offenders: A pilot randomized controlled study – Traffic Injury Prevention.
Legal references:
- See SCRAM CAM® Continuous Alcohol Monitoring, SCRAM Systems.
- See note 1.
- Medicine.net, “Alcohol and Nutrition,” third section (“How is alcohol metabolized?”).
- See, for example, ThoughtCo., “Alcohol Versus Ethanol.”
- See, for example, People v. International Fidelity Ins. Co., (, 2017) .
- See, for example, In re N.R. (Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, 2022) D080550.
- See, for example, People v. Servetti (Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, Division Three, 2022) A163080.
- Frequently Asked Questions for SCRAM Participants, SCRAM systems.
- See, for example, In re. Mitchell (, 2020) B291727.
- People v. Winslow (, 2022) D078773.
- See California Penal Code 2900.5(a).
- See note 1.
- See note 8.