HOUSTON, Miss. (AP) - Houston Mayor Stacey Parker believes punishing juveniles who break the rules is a worthwhile expenditure of city dollars.
   
After more than six months of trying to get a county-wide program set up that would put electronic ankle monitors on juveniles, the Houston Board of Mayor and Aldermen has voted to fund the program.
   
Van Hopkins, of Adapts Electronic Monitoring of Tupelo, says the city would pay upfront costs to implement the program, but the court would impose fines on those fitted with an ankle bracelet to recoup expenses.
   
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports (http://bit.ly/RZeBcB ) incarcerating a teenager at the juvenile detention center in Tupelo costs $100 a day. An electronic ankle bracelet costs from $5 to $10 a day depending on the system used.