Ending private prisons may stem illegal inmate surveillance
Recently, the Justice Department announced it would end the use of private prisons. Among the 13 privately run facilities housing 22,000 inmates is the Leavenworth Detention Center in Kansas, which was recently found to be secretly recording private conversations between lawyers and defendants.
The Corrections Corporation of America-run institution has been illegally recording conversations and turning over the records to the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution in applicable cases. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson issued a cease-and-desist order against Kansas and Missouri jails that have been recording meetings between inmates and attorneys.
Kansas City defense attorney Braden Perry, a Criminal Justice Act panel appointee, said the development was “extremely disturbing” in an interview with the Kansas City Business Journal.
The Corrections Corporation of America manages 85 percent of incarceration facilities around the country. The company told the Associated Press that video recording of attorney-inmate meetings is “commonplace at detention facilities across the U.S.” adding that the recordings were taken for the safety of all the parties involved in the meeting. They also added that no audio was taken from the meetings.
The company did not explain why the videos were preserved or turned over to prosecutors.
Even if the videos were furnished without audio, the videos are still an infringement of constitutional rights because attorney-client privilege covers the entire interaction lawyers have with their clients, not just the actual conversation.
“Even if the tape showed only the back of the prisoner and the lawyer’s face, it can still be confidential,” Peter Joy, Washington University law ethics professor, told Slate. “Confidential communications can include a client’s demeanor and just the fact that he appears very upset may violate confidentiality.”
NPR recently reported that Corrections Corporation of America was taping phone calls made in their prison.
