Securus recorded phone calls between prisoners and attorneys

Nov 12, 2015 12:02 am
If you made a telephone call to a prisoner and don't remember exactly what you said, it turns out you may be in luck. Leaked phone records obtained by The Intercept show Securus Technologies has been recording metadata and many actual calls by prisoners. The Intercept, staffed by several reporters involved in the Edward Snowden leak reporting, set up a "SecureDrop" for whistleblowers to leak documents. "An anonymous hacker who believes that Securus is violating the constitutional rights of inmates," according to The Intercept, released the documents that include over 70 million records of phone calls placed by prisoners to at least 37 states from December 2011 through the spring of 2014. At least 14,000 of the recorded conversations were between inmates and attorneys. There's, "a strong indication that at least some of the recordings are likely confidential and privileged legal communications — calls that never should have been recorded in the first place. The recording of legally protected attorney-client communications — and the storage of those recordings — potentially offends constitutional protections, including the right to effective assistance of counsel and of access to the courts." Jordan Smith, Micah Lee write at The Intercept. “This may be the most massive breach of the attorney-client privilege in modern U.S. history, and that’s certainly something to be concerned about,” said David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project. See the full story in The Intercept.