Electronic monitoring services were first offered as a sentencing option to all circuit courts in Michigan. The goal was to divert appropriate offenders from prison. Probation agents were also encouraged to recommend EMS as an enhancement to court-ordered supervision. The probation EMS program is now used statewide, and there are more than 800 felony probationers in the system. Michigan's community residential program uses electronic monitors to enhance program supervision rather than to divert people from prison. Parole has not used EMS as much as probation and the community residential program. The State of Michigan plans to use EMS more in parole in 1991, particularly for technical rule violators, as an alternative to return to prison. EMS is also used in certain cases for low-risk felony offenders, juveniles in the care of the Department of Social Services, and misdemeanor offenders. With crowded jails in many counties, EMS offers an alternative to jail incarceration for low-risk offenders.