Written by Allyson Walker

Images by KXAN.com and Joe Mahoney/Rocky Mountain PBS I-News

Recent news about a federal lawsuit against the Travis County Sheriff’s Office provides a fresh reminder of how important it is for correctional facilities to make absolutely sure their inmates’ privileged phone calls and other communications are not recorded... or it could cost them.

The suit claims that the Texas facility violated client-attorney privileges by recording constitutionally protected calls between inmates and their defense lawyers which were supposed to be confidential.

While it may represent the most recent occurrence, it is by no means the first. Privileged conversations between inmates and lawyers have been wrongly recorded at multiple facilities across the country (Davidson County, TN, Alameda County, CA, and the Alaska Department of Corrections, just to name a few.) More...