Attorney-client privilege should cover electronic messages to federal prisoners, ABA president says
Attorney-client privilege should be extended to electronic communications between attorneys and their clients who are incarcerated in federal Bureau of Prisons facilities, ABA President Bill Bay said Wednesday. (Image from Shutterstock)
Attorney-client privilege should be extended to electronic communications between attorneys and their clients who are incarcerated in federal Bureau of Prisons facilities, ABA President Bill Bay said Wednesday in a letter sent to Congress.
In the letter, Bay urged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other key members of Congress to support the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act. It would ensure that the same protection that’s provided to telephone calls, U.S. mail and in-person meetings between attorneys and incarcerated clients would be provided to electronic messages, which Bay noted has been a long-standing priority of the ABA.
“The attorney-client privilege is fundamental to our system of justice and critical to the work of lawyers who must rely on candid, confidential communications with their clients to render competent legal advice under law,” Bay said.
The federal Bureau of Prisons’ practice of requiring a “voluntary” waiver of confidentiality before using its network must also end, Bay wrote in the letter. He added that while it may be appropriate to monitor and retain nonprivileged messages sent or received by people who are incarcerated, law enforcement officers should not be able to access legal messages without a warrant.
“We also appreciate that your bill would ensure that even with a warrant, messages protected by the attorney-client privilege would not be reviewable, thereby striking a better balance between protecting legitimate government interests and the countervailing importance of attorney-client confidentiality,” Bay said.
The Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act was introduced and referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday.
