What it’s like to live with a GPS-enabled ankle monitor that tracks your location at all times

In the United States, GPS-enabled electronic ankle bracelets are used to monitor accused and convicted criminals as a condition of bail, house arrest and parole. Some of these devices can even detect a wearer’s alcohol consumption. According to a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the number of people in the US wearing electronic tracking devices more than doubled, from 53,000 to 125,000, between 2005 and 2015. (Almost) Freedom tracks the lives of four people wearing ankle monitors, existing, as the title suggests, in a sort of limbo between state custody and self-determination. Using a low angle that emphasises the individuals and the devices equally, the US director Puck Lo’s observational short documentary probes what it means to extend imprisonment beyond prison walls – for better or for worse.