Is this possible in your mind? That a jail would record conversations between defendants and attorneys, without their knowledge? Can this happen in your mental conception of America?
For four years, a tucked-away monitoring system in a certain visitation room at the Anchorage jail recorded conversations between attorneys and their clients — defendants in criminal court – without anyone knowing.
Now defense attorneys are concerned — some are livid — about what they say is a striking violation of basic constitutional rights.
Quinlan Steiner, the state public defender, in December learned from the state that the recordings were secretly and routinely made from 2012 to 2016. The files were automatically recorded over every 30 days. The new information was circulated last month to about 120 Alaska criminal defense lawyers.
Well, they don't listen to them, so it's permissible, right? Don't freak out on me, tinfoil dude.State corrections officials say the recordings generally were not listened to or provided to law enforcement, though in one case, that did happen. And defense lawyers suspect the problem may be prevalent.
The feds asked for this? Nah.The FBI asked the department to add an audio recording element into a visiting room where Keyes met with his girlfriend, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
For real?
They didn't mean to keep recording. They just forgot to, like, turn it off and stuff.After the suicide, the staff did not turn off the recording equipment until the jail "rediscovered" it in November 2016, Sullivan said.
"They just simply forgot about it," she said. The Anchorage jail got a new superintendent. A senior sergeant retired. The recording system wasn't on the new command's radar, nor on Sullivan's when she became deputy commissioner, she said.
That's positive. Glad nobody needs to go to jail or anything.Federal investigators and prosecutors didn't know the audio recordings were continuing either, the U.S. attorney's office said. The office said it takes the attorney-client privilege seriously.
How dare a lawyer be skeptical after learning that the conversations had been recorded? Tinfoil. Hyperbole. Outrageous.Gonzalez-Powell remains skeptical of the corrections department explanation. She said she doubts the recording took place in only one room, and doubts that it has stopped. Some of her clients are afraid to talk to her in the jail and pass notes instead.
Defense strategies may well be compromised, she said. She wants confirmation from someone outside the department that no corrections employees, law enforcement officers or prosecutors were allowed to review the recordings. She wants to know where recording devices were installed and why. She wants proof that the recordings have been destroyed.
"If they are permitted to go unsanctioned for this conduct, then the foundation of our constitutional rights will be eviscerated," she said in the recent court filing.
Hello 6th Amendment. Unless you're under arrest, I guess.
A year has already passed. No perp walks mentioned in this story. Who watches the watchers?