NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The sheriff’s office in New Orleans should stop recording calls inmates make to their attorneys’ cellphones, a watchdog group said Tuesday.
Court Watch Nola’s says the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office allows unrecorded calls between inmates and attorneys on landlines, but monitors calls to the same attorneys’ cellphones.
It’s one of several issues addressed in a report touching on policies and practices involving defendants’ access to attorneys and due process in the city’s municipal court, which handles misdemeanor cases, and the state criminal district court, which handles more serious cases.
Spokesmen for Sheriff Marlin Gusman and District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro defended the recording of calls.
Cannizzaro’s spokesman, Ken Daley, said attorney-client privilege doesn’t apply to the recorded calls.
“Since both the inmate and the person they are speaking with know and acknowledge their call is being monitored and recorded by law enforcement, and because defense attorneys have two other readily available options by which to hold private-privileged conversations, there is no constitutional violation,” Daley said in an emailed statement.
Sheriff’s attorney Blake Arcuri said in a statement that calls from inmates to land line numbers can be made privately, and the jail has seven rooms available for confidential attorney-client meetings. It says limiting unrecorded calls to land lines aids jail security.
“We have unfortunately encountered several situations in the past where attorneys and their staff members have made three-way calls at the request of their clients, have been involved in conspiracies to commit crimes in the jail facilities, and have participated in the introduction of contraband into the jail,” his statement said.
Court Watch Nola disputes that authorities can detect third parties on landlines without recording them.
The watchdog’s report repeated a call for courtrooms to have areas where inmates and attorneys can talk privately, and says interpreters aren’t always available for defendants who don’t speak English.
The report It also calls on municipal court judges to make sure they determine whether a defendant is able to pay a fine before approving an arrest warrant for failing to pay.
That’s an issue the criminal district court judges at the parish courthouse already are being forced to address because of a federal court order in an inmate lawsuit, “Cain v. City of New Orleans.” The municipal court wasn’t a defendant in that case, but should adhere to the same requirements, Court Watch Nola said.
Court Watch Nola is a volunteer organization founded in 2007 that recruits volunteers to monitor courts and promote criminal justice reform in New Orleans.
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