Defense attorneys clash with prison over recorded meetings

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Defense attorneys clash with prison over recorded meetings

Bill Draper, Associated Press

Updated 4:58 pm, Friday, August 26, 2016


KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Defense attorneys who represent inmates at a privately run federal prison in Kansas were livid after learning that their meetings with clients had been recorded on video, despite repeated assurances from the penitentiary that the conversations were private.

The recordings that came to light this month had no audio, but the complaints raise the question of whether nonverbal interactions such as body language or the exchange of legal documents are protected under attorney-client privilege.

"We never had any idea we were being recorded," said Laine Cardarella, a federal public defender in Missouri whose clients include detainees at the Leavenworth prison. "This has had a chilling effect."

A federal judge said the recordings might have violated the Sixth Amendment rights of hundreds of inmates and ordered them stopped.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Defense-attorneys-clash-with-prison-over-recorded-9186774.php

[MADem]

1. New trials for everyone!!!

Someone could make a fortune coming up with a portable noise machine--or better still, a phone app--that defense lawyers could deploy in the jailhouse that will interfere with the ability of a recording device to capture conversations.

Sort of a "cone of silence" type deal--hell, if i were a lawyer, I'd use it. Trust no one!!

[CRH]

2. I would look for lip reading specialists,

on the payroll of any office associated with prosecution or parole.

[csziggy]

3. Another reason to shut down private prisons!

From the article linked in the OP:

The company that runs the prison, Corrections Corporation of America, insists that silent video recordings of inmate-attorney meetings "are a standard practice" throughout the country and are used solely to enhance the prison's safety and security.

Unlike prisons controlled by the federal Bureau of Prisons, which generally forbids any recording in attorney-client meeting rooms, private facilities set their own standards.

That last sentence in my quote needs to be proven to be illegal in the courts. There should be NO DIFFERENCE in treatment of inmates whether at a government run facility or at a corporate run facility. I wonder how many other prisoner civil rights have been violated by those private facilities whose administrators believe they are above the law?