Search | Prison Phone Justice

Authorities Listen in on Attorney-Client Calls at Jails in FL, CA and TX

Article • August 15, 2008 • from PLN August, 2008

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

Department claimed the attorney calls had been recorded due to an “inadvertent glitch” in the phone system, according to the Union Tribune. The system was not supposed to record calls placed to phone numbers ...

Monitoring and Limiting Phone Calls by Kansas Prisoners Upheld

Article • May 15, 2008

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

to contact such "privileged persons" on a case by case basis. These calls are subject to monitoring. Courts are divided over whether there is any First Amendment right to telephone access at all. The court ...

Ohio Prison Employee Loses Suit Over Supervisor Bugging Her Desk

Article • May 15, 2008

Filed under: Retaliation against Staff, Title VII, Telephone Monitoring, Guards/Staff, Employee Litigation

Ohio Prison Employee Loses Suit Over Supervisor Bugging Her Desk by The plaintiff civilian employee found a microphone by her desk; her supervisor admitted he had bugged her because he thought there were racial problems in the office. He was suspended; nothing happened to her. She had no claim against …

Court Upholds Photocopying of Jail Prisoner’s Mail, Suppression Denied

Article • May 15, 2008

Filed under: Searches, Police Searches, Criminal Prosecution, Telephone Monitoring, Mail Regulations, Legal Mail

, both incoming and outgoing." The court distinguishes telephone monitoring cases because in those the monitoring was done pursuant to an ongoing security-related program. At 292: "No case holds ...

CA Prisoner's Convictions for Conspiracy to Smuggle Drugs Vacated for Bad Jury Instructions

Article • January 15, 2008

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Conspiracy, Jury Instructions, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

CA Prisoner's Convictions for Conspiracy to Smuggle Drugs Vacated for Bad Jury Instructions by Jaime Jasso, a California state prisoner, made several phone calls to someone outside of prison named Ruben. Guards monitored those calls and discovered that their purpose was for Passo to give Ruben directions for obtaining drugs …

Scottish Court Holds Prison Phone Call Imprinting Violates European Convention On Human Rights

Article • December 15, 2007 • from PLN December, 2007

Filed under: International, International Law, Telephone Access, Telephone Monitoring

Scottish Court Holds Prison Phone Call Imprinting Violates European Convention On Human Rights by Lord Glennie of the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland ruled that the blanket policy of imprinting all prisoner originated phone calls with the warning, "This call originates from a Scottish prison" violated the European Convention …

Using Jail Phones After Verbal and Posted Warnings of Recording Implies Consent

Article • December 15, 2007

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

Using Jail Phones After Verbal and Posted Warnings of Recording Implies Consent by California detainee David Windham appealed a decision holding that recordings of jail-placed phone conversations were lawful and could be used for conviction purposes. Windham asked his girlfriend for money while shopping. She refused and he followed her …

Sawchuck v. Jenne, FL, Order on SJ, Attorney-Client Communications, 2007

Brief • September 21, 2007

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Attorney Client, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

to telephone access 419 F. Supp. 2d 820 836 (E.D. Va. 2005) (prison See also U. S. v. Lentz, policy of recording and monitoring all inmate telephone calls did not infringe Plaintiffs Sixth Amendment rights ...

Government Segregates Muslim Prisoners Restricts Phone Calls and Visits

Article • July 15, 2007

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Religious Discrimination, Administrative Procedures Act (Federal), Interpreters, Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring, Mail Regulations, Federal Legislation

Management Unit (CMU), and is located in the medium security federal prison at Terre Haute, Indiana. Its occupants are almost entirely Muslims. Under the CMU program, telephone communications must ...

Florida’s Broward County Jail: Abuse and Misconduct As Usual

Article • June 15, 2007 • from PLN June, 2007

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Criminal Prosecution, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

recorded all phone calls, including privileged calls between prisoners and their lawyers. A BSO official claimed the recording was due to a "glitch" in the phone system, and only one attorney call had been ...

Evidence From Tape-Recorded Conversation Not Admissible

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

Evidence From Tape-Recorded Conversation Not Admissible by In this criminal proceeding, the Supreme Court of California held that evidence from a car towed from defendant's apartment was admissible, but evidence from a tape-recorded conversation between the defendant and his wife was not. After his arrest, defendant's wife was permitted to …

Attorney/Client Privilege Voided by Including Third Persons in Conversation

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

, who argued the trial court abused its discretion by admitting testimony of his former attorney and a tape recording of a telephone conversation with that attorney. Black called his sister, who ...

Notice Implies Consent to BOP Jail Phone Recordings

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Telephone Monitoring

Notice Implies Consent to BOP Jail Phone Recordings by The criminal defendants were convicted based in part on recordings of their telephone calls from jail. Title III of the Omnibus Crime ...

Monitored Jail Phone Calls Admissible Evidence

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

Monitored Jail Phone Calls Admissible Evidence by The criminal defendants' telephone conversations were tape-recorded pursuant to standard jail policy. They could be used as evidence ...

Bad Faith Allegation Not Required in 1983 Action

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Complaints, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring, False Arrest, Arrest Warrants

Bad Faith Allegation Not Required in 1983 Action by The U.S. Supreme Court held that a plaintiff in a 42 U.S.C. §1983 action is not required to plead the defendant acted in bad faith. Carlos Riviera Gomez, a Puerto Rico police officer, was subpoenaed to testify in a criminal case …

SAMs Valid, Requiring Defense Attorneys' Affirmation Invalid

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring, Mail Regulations, Legal Mail, Attorney Visits

SAMs Valid, Requiring Defense Attorneys' Affirmation Invalid by A U.S. District Court held that Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) were valid as to the detention of a pretrial detainee, but defense attorneys need not give affirmation as to their acknowledgment of the SAMs. 28 C.F.R. §501.3(a) (Prevention of acts of violence …

Attorney/Client Privileged Waived When Conversation Knowingly Recorded; Interstate Commerce Proven With De Minimus Effect

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

Attorney/Client Privileged Waived When Conversation Knowingly Recorded; Interstate Commerce Proven With De Minimus Effect by Attorney/Client Privileged Waived When Conversation Knowingly Recorded; Interstate Commerce Proven With De Minimus Effect The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held the government proved that robberies of a jewelry store affected interstate commerce and the …

New BOP Program Isolating Muslim, Middle Eastern Prisoners

Article • May 15, 2007 • from PLN May, 2007

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Administrative Procedures Act (Federal), Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

Haute Federal Correctional Institution in Indiana. Under the CMU program, telephone communications must be conducted using monitored phone lines, be live-monitored by staff, are subject to recording ...

No Subpoena Required to Record Prison Phone Calls

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

No Subpoena Required to Record Prison Phone Calls by The court of appeals for the Second circuit held that federal prisoners at the USP in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, had received adequate notice that their phone calls were monitored and recorded. In this criminal prosecution for prison drug trafficking, the court held …

Collect Call Phone System Doesn't Violate Right to Court Access

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Client, Court Access, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

Collect Call Phone System Doesn't Violate Right to Court Access by A federal district court in Tennessee held that no constitutional violation occurred when a Tennessee prison replaced its coin operated phones with a coinless, collect call only phone system. Lawsuit was brought in context of access to counsel and …