We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

NPR REPORTS ON PUSH FOR ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE IN BOP EMAIL

NPR reported last week on congressional efforts to protect inmate email to lawyers from BOP snooping.

In February, the House of Representatives approved the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act by a vote of 414 to 11. The bill, now referred to the Senate Committee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, would require the BOP to refrain from monitoring the contents of emails between inmates and their lawyers without a warrant.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), said the vote garnered a large bipartisan majority at a time when lawmakers don’t agree on much.

The Congressional Budget Office predicted that if the legislation passed the Senate, the Federal Bureau of Prisons would have to build a new email system and create a registry of approved lawyers — measures it expects could cost $52 million through 2025.

A BOP spokesman told NPR that inmates and their contacts who use the email system “voluntarily consent to having all system activity monitored and retained.” He said that prisoners and their lawyers can communicate through phone, letters, or visits, which he said are not monitored by staff.

NPR, When It Comes To Email, Some Prisoners Say Attorney-Client Privilege Has Been Erased (March 31, 2021)

H.R. 546, Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act

– Thomas L. Root