question:Sometimes, it’s not so bad being a laboratory guinea pig, though my laboratory is an odd one. In fact, I’m installed at a table at the Horniman at Hays pub on London’s South Bank. And the scientific test itself is even odder — I am being forced to consume an ice-cold pint of Pilsner Urquell beer. Wrapped around my ankle is an electronic ‘sobriety tag’ — a black plastic box about the size of a cigarette packet, weighing 5.8oz. It is a ‘transdermal tag’ or a ‘Breathalyser for your ankle’, as it’s been dubbed. Harry Mount has tested the electronic ‘sobriety tag’ which is to be fitted to the ankles of drunken offenders . These gizmos can tell whether you’ve been drinking — and the results are then transmitted to a computer that records the exact moment you slip down the pub for a quick one. Under new Tory plans, thousands of drunken offenders will be fitted with the devices. If the Conservatives win the next election, the Government will impose ‘sobriety orders’ — already dubbed ‘Sosbos’ — instead of prison for certain drink-related offences. The orders will be enforced by the tags, which offenders will wear for up to 120 days. The tags were first introduced in 2007 in South Dakota in America. The results were astonishing — 83 per cent of offenders didn’t drink while tagged and incidents of drink-driving across the state fell. The jail population declined. It wasn’t long before the bracelets were introduced across America. So far, they have been used on 360,000 offenders. Actress Lindsay Lohan was among those fitted with one. Successful pilot schemes were launched this year in London, Northamptonshire and Cheshire, and now the Conservatives are planning to roll out the scheme across England and Wales. Legal powers for Sosbos already exist and the Tories will promise in their election manifesto to deal with an initial 5,000 offenders a year, in a scheme which will cost an estimated £15 million. Sosbos would be imposed on those convicted of drink-related offences, such as common assault, drink-driving, obstructing a police officer, being drunk and disorderly and causing criminal damage. Offenders thought to be alcoholics will not be eligible. The programme is surprisingly cheap. It costs only £800 per offender for 120 days — a lot cheaper than jail. Might it be the magic bullet to cut alcohol-fuelled crime, estimated to cost us £8 billion a year? Successful pilot schemes using the device (pictured) were launched this year in London, Northamptonshire and Cheshire, and now the Conservatives are planning to roll out the scheme across England and Wales . It will be particularly aimed at those binge-drinking youths who turn our city centres into battle zones on Friday and Saturday nights. Probation officers monitor the bracelets’ results. If offenders remain sober throughout their period with the bracelet, then they have satisfied the probation service’s demands. If they relapse, they will be hit with an £80 fine, community punishments or a jail term. My aim, though, in the Horniman at Hays, is not to stay sober, but to test the device to destruction by drinking. And I’m proud to say that, within 20 minutes, I’ve broken it. The computer chip was so confused by the speed with which I got stuck into my mid-afternoon Pilsner that it died. The software hadn’t had a chance to warm up. I had to call for the help of Matthew Mitchell, the UK manager for Scram Continuous Alcohol Monitoring, the company that invented the bracelets. ‘I’ve never seen an offender do that before,’ Mr Mitchell said, as he fitted me with a new device. ‘Usually, we fit the bracelet and then give them a half-hour induction. That gives the software enough time to normalise.’ Once the new one is strapped around my ankle, it works like a dream. The technology is fairly simple. Every half an hour, 24 hours a day, you feel a little buzz from the machine — like a vibrating phone sending a text. It comes from a tiny pump connecting a small, perforated metal plate to my skin. As it buzzes, the pump takes a sample of sweat. About one per cent of everything we drink is expelled via our pores all over the body. We sweat alcohol out as ethanol molecules. They then interact with a fuel cell in the bracelet to create an electrical current. The principle is the same with a Breathalyser, except that there the ethanol molecules are in the air we exhale. The strength of the electrical current varies according to how much alcohol there is in your system, and the bracelet sends all the information to a computer kept at your home. Twice a day — at 11.30pm and 6.30am — it wirelessly downloads your drinking pattern and transmits the results to the probation services. The black plastic box can tell when people have had a drink and transmits the results to a central computer . If I were an offender, the magistrate or judge could then convict me for breaking the terms of my probation. The bracelet can also tell if you try to tamper with it. If I were to stick a piece of cardboard between the bracelet and my skin to block the perspiration readings, sensors would tell base command I was up to no good. And, if I were to break the bracelet, the computer would log that, too. Submerging the bracelet in water is an offence — although it’s fine to take a shower, as I do twice over two days, with no damage done. After 48 hours, Mr Mitchell downloads a graph that shows my drinking — and it’s astonishingly accurate. Even though I broke the first bracelet with my early drinking, the central computer still managed to record my consumption. That pint of Pilsner Urquell, first glugged at 3.43pm, shows up half an hour later as a sharp rise on the graph. My TAC levels — ‘Transdermal Alcohol Concentration’ — continue to climb even after I stop drinking, as my body absorbs the alcohol. Actress Lindsay Lohan has been among those fitted with one of the black tags to monitor alcohol use . The body continues to metabolise alcohol and expel it long after you’ve stopped drinking — that’s why drink-drivers are often caught the morning after a heavy drinking session. After a short break — when my TAC levels fall — I continue my arduous experiment at 6.41pm, with my first sip of a pint of Amstel. The graph is accurate down to the minute. At 7.28pm, I start a second pint of Amstel. At 8.08pm, I begin a third pint — this time of Pilsner. At 8.42pm, I sensibly downgrade to a half-pint of Pilsner. The following evening, I have two pints of San Miguel lager, followed by half a bottle of white wine. The white wine — at 11.5 per cent alcohol strength — is considerably stronger than the 5 per cent beer. But the stronger wine doesn’t show up as a steeper line on the graph. ‘When the body reaches maximum alcohol capacity, it can only expel the ethanol at a maximum rate,’ says Mr Mitchell, ‘If you drank several shots quickly, it would just take a longer time to expel it. You don’t get a spike.’ In my two days wearing the device, I barely notice it buzzing and sleep through it. The bracelet is slightly uncomfortable, though. On a long walk, it began chafing the skin above my ankle. More difficult is the social stigma. As I sat in the Horniman at Hays, I noticed several people staring down at the bracelet — you can barely see its outline when it’s concealed by your trouser leg, but it was exposed in the act of sitting down. If you were an offender, you might feel slightly ashamed by such an obvious criminal tag. No bad thing, I say. ‘Some offenders in America actually wear them as a badge of honour,’ says Matthew Mitchell. ‘They’ll wear shorts to show them off. Others are so pleased with being sober that they’ll have an image of the bracelet tattooed on their ankle as a constant reminder of how useful the programme was, once they’ve had the real thing removed.’ I began the experiment by thinking it was a draconian imposition on civil liberties. I end up convinced of its use as a law enforcement device. Not only does the tag barely interrupt your everyday life. It also saves taxpayers’ money, keeps offenders out of jail and makes our High Streets more pleasant. I’ll raise my glass to that.

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