ATM-like machines let probationers check in without face-to-face meetings.
INDIANAPOLIS — There’s a white machine in lobby near the entrance to the Community Justice Center that quietly does the work of a probation officer.
Vic Ryckaert/WRTV
This kiosk in the Community Justice Center allows people on probation to check in with having to visit a probation officer.
It is a probation kiosk. Marion County has stationed seven of them stationed around Indianapolis.
“It’s a lot easier than having to go see my actual probation officer and set up a meeting and wait and check in that way,” said Mikeal Givan, who spoke to WRTV when he visited the machine in the Justice Center.
Givan has been checking in on the kiosks every other month for about four years. He said he is very close to successfully completing his sentence.
“It makes it a lot easier just to be able to go wherever it’s convenient for you,” Givan said.
Marion County launched its kiosks in 2019. They let low-risk probation clients show they haven’t left the state, are paying their fees and following whatever else a judge has ordered without having to meet face-to-face with a probation officer.