Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chairman, I thank the distinguished gentleman, the ranking member from Pennsylvania, for his leadership.

This amendment would prohibit the use of funds in connection with the monitoring or review of electronic communications between an inmate detainee and his or her attorney or attorney's agents who are traditionally covered by the attorney-client privilege, except in circumstances where reasonable suspicion exists that a particular inmate's communications with attorneys or their agents may be designed to further or facilitate acts of terrorism.

This amendment is designed to protect the legally sacrosanct attorney-client privilege. It would protect the Sixth Amendment right to counsel of individuals who are using electronic communications to share privileged information with their designated court advocate.

The attorney-client privilege is one of the oldest recognized privileges in American jurisprudence. It is intended to encourage the full and frank communication between attorneys and their clients and thereby promote the broader public interests in the observance of the law and the administration of justice. It, of course, is anchored in the Sixth Amendment.

Currently, in-person attorney visitations in facilities that are run by the Bureau of Prisons can take place in attorney-client rooms which provide the privacy to share information necessary for a lawyer to adequately defend his or her client in court.

However, this is not the case for correspondence collected through electronic means. Waiver notices in Federal prisons vary from facility to facility, with some having clearly posted notices which state that by using the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System, otherwise known as TRULINCS, inmates are waiving their privilege rights. Other facilities, however, provide no indication on the level of privacy that a detained individual can expect when using electronic prison resources.

The TRULINCS system also does not provide an option for a detained individual who hasn't been convicted to contact his or her attorney without subjecting electronic communications to external review.

The reading and collecting of privileged information in instances where clients are having electronic exchanges with their attorneys is a clear invasion of the traditional attorney-client privilege.

In this great country, there is a presumption of innocence, as one of our Founding Fathers, John Adams, has eloquently set forth. It is a foundational principle of our democracy.

It seems unreasonable to require in the 21st century that protection of the attorney-client privilege at a detention center only occurs through in-person visitation. These correctional facilities are often located in distant locations that cannot be easily accessed. We live in an era of modern technology and communication. The technology is available in these facilities, and our laws should reflect and adapt to the modern age.

This amendment would prohibit the prison system from compromising the attorney-client privilege, as anchored in the Sixth Amendment constitutional right to assistance of counsel.

For that reason, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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