Killahbyte

Lindsay Lohan’s fashion sense may sometimes be in question, but this week all eyes are on an unusual bangle strapped to her ankle.

Lohan's “SCRAM” bracelet (really an anklet) is the latest result of her years of tangling with the law. She has been on probation since 2007 on drug- and DUI-related charges. When she missed a recent probation hearing — she claimed she was stuck in Cannes (hey, who isn’t?) because her passport was stolen — a Los Angeles judge on Monday ordered her fitted with the alcohol monitor, the Associated Press reported.

But what exactly is a SCRAM bracelet, and how does it work?

The helpful folks at Alcohol Monitoring Systems Inc., which makes the SCRAMx System, explain that it’s quite simple, really. 

In a nutshell, the SCRAM device — short for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor — sucks in perspiration that seeps from the pores. Even when we aren’t doing leg lifts and squats, we’re always sweating a little, and AMS says that about “1 percent of everything we ingest is expelled, unmetabolized, via our pores as ‘insensible perspiration.’”

Sounds disgusting, but it probably explains why you smell so boozy after that bender. You’re literally sweating gin.

The SCRAM bracelet picks that up by testing the perspiration for alcohol every 30 minutes around the clock, whether you’re awake or asleep. The alcohollevel is relayed wirelessly to a base station, which sends the monitor readings to headquarters however often the court requires, up to six times a day. And it’s all tamper-resistant, so if the unit is disabled or removed, a reading doesn’t get sent, and the cops quickly show up to see how you jimmied the SCRAM bracelet off your leg.

Agencies in charge of monitoring the person in question can check in on them via a website.

And there you have it, folks. Don’t get into trouble with drugs or alcohol or you too could end up sporting a SCRAM, a clunky little number that you’ll have trouble explaining to the guys in the break room.