Have you ever said something that you later regretted? Sometimes we say things that we do not mean, or should not say, when we feel scared, frustrated, desperate, confused or lonely. Inmates often express their concerns during telephone calls with family members and friends. However, a careless statement made during a jailhouse or prison call may become evidence in a criminal case.
“Your Call May be Recorded for Quality Assurance Evidence Collection.”
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has ruled that prosecutors can subpoena recordings of telephone calls made from jails and prisons by inmates and detainees. Prosecutors will attempt to obtain this evidence for use in grand jury investigations and trials. The SJC held that this type of evidence gathering does not violate an inmate’s privacy rights. Penal institutions (jails and prisons) have to tell the inmates that their calls are being monitored and recorded.
In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall expressed her concern that prosecutors may gain access to telephone calls between inmates and those they trust the most—spouses, therapists, doctors and spiritual counselors. Justice Marshall wrote:
We do not know—if the individual is a pretrial detainee—whether he has been indicted. We do not know whether any of the telephone calls are covered by any privileges—for example whether any telephone calls were placed to the pretrial detainee’s pastor, psychotherapist, or spouse. We do not know whether the inmate or pretrial detainee had any practical means of communicating with his family or pastor or physician except by telephone.
Given this court decision, you should be extremely careful regarding the things you say during a jailhouse call. If someone you know is in jail or prison, remind them that their calls are being monitored and recorded. Do not discuss potentially incriminating information over the phone.
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