FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) - The Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has problems with Pinal County installing cameras in lawyer-inmate interview rooms at the county jail.
According to the Casa Grande Dispatch, the county attorney’s office says cameras were installed last month in rooms that defense attorneys use to speak privately with their clients to prevent contraband from being passed.
Twice since the installation, public defenders have asked county Superior Court judges for continuances because they haven’t been able to have private discussions with their clients due to the presence of the cameras.
County Sheriff Mark Lamb and County Attorney Kent Volkmer maintain the cameras don’t record audio and are pixelated so documents or lips cannot be read from the video.
“In our view, this is very problematic that they are recording these interactions,” Jared Keenan, ACLU of Arizona criminal justice staff attorney, told the Dispatch. “The conversations between an attorney and client is protected and supposed to be private. Even if they are not recording sound, there are still a lot of things that they would be able to see.”
Keenan said if attorneys and inmates meet after a court hearing, jailers might be able to detect subtle clues from body language or facial expressions of the attorney or the client.
Once video is allowed into this sensitive meeting area, Keenan said it’s possible thhe video and audio quality could be upgraded and improved in the future.
“Any interaction that is recorded violates the attorney-client privilege,” he said. “The reason that privilege exists is to encourage frank communication between attorney and client. If you stick a camera in what should be a private meeting room between attorney and client, it likely will have a chilling effect on what types of conversations occur in that situation.”
Another area the ACLU is concerned about is if these videoed interactions between attorneys and inmates end up on a national television show, Keenan said.
But Volkmer said the way everything is set up, video of attorneys talking to clients cannot be used on one of the national shows.
He said the video is taken from the ceiling looking downward and faces cannot be seen, unless the defense attorney looks up at the camera. The inmate’s face will not be recorded by the new cameras and the inmate cannot see the surveillance camera.
“They can’t see it. I would tell them that it is there if I were the defense attorney. They should have the right to know that,” Volkmer told the Dispatch.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.