visit clients in jail

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schedule a visit

Three Types of Video Visits

At Facility

These visits are when you go to your facility and sit at a video visit station in the lobby. Your loved one or friend will be on a video visit station in their pod.

From Computer

At select facilities families and friends can have video visits from their own personal computers in the comfort of their own homes. You will need the following equipment to do a video visit from home:

• A computer.
• A webcam and a microphone, or a computer with these components built in (most laptops have these built in).
• An internet browser. Internet browsers Safari 4 and higher, or Firefox 7 and higher, are strongly recommended. Using other browsers may not load the page appropriately in order to begin your visit. We are not responsible for technical problems or issues that may arise from using an unsupported browser.
• For the best visit experience you should use headphones, but they are not required.
• High speed internet (DSL or Cable) connection (dial up and satellite are not supported).

From Android Device

Video visits go mobile with our Visit Now Android app. At select facilities families and friends can have video visits from their own Android devices.

How to Schedule a Visit

Free video visit policy.

Free visits are a benefit for the inmate and are credited to the  inmate’s account. Therefore the inmate is the only one who  can book a free visit . This allows the inmate at your facility full control of whom they want to use their free visit with. There are also advanced scheduling rules that control the timeframe that a free visit can be booked. These rules vary by facility. If an inmate books a visit outside this timeframe, they will not be allowed to use a free visit.

• Book the visit with their Friends & Family.
• Suggest a visit with their Friends & Family. The Friends & Family must have no prepaid funds on their account at the time they confirm the suggested time. The inmate’s free visit will then be deducted.
• Confirm a suggested visit from their friends and family. The Friends & Family must have no prepaid funds on their account at the time the inmate confirms the visit. The inmate’s free visit will then be deducted from their free visit allowance.

The only way Friends & Family can use a free visit is by suggesting a visit with the inmate. If the inmate has a free visit available and there are no prepaid funds on the Friends & Family account at the time the inmate confirms, the free visit will be deducted from inmate’s account.

What Services Are Available At My Facility?

Select your facility below, available services:.

• Phone & Voicemail
• Video Visit at Facility
• Video Visit from Home

• Photo Sharing
• Tablets Your inmate has access to tablets. Make a deposit to their account so they have more ways to be productive, and you have more ways to stay connected.
• Verification Required

What is Telmate Verified?

If you are asked to be Telmate Verified it means your facility requires verification of your identity prior to acceptance of inmates' calls. The purpose of verification is to ensure inmates are not connecting with inappropriate people on the outside. The verification process is simple and can be completed before or after creating an account.

To be verified, you can make a deposit , schedule a visit or download and complete the Telmate Verified form .

Did you know…

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates who

maintain strong relationships

with friends and family, greatly reduce their risk of recidivism.

Terms of Use governing use of GettingOut services state that all services are intended to be used by persons over the age of 18.

To continue, please enter your date of birth to confirm you are over the age of 18.

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How to Visit Someone in Prison

Last Updated: February 8, 2021 Approved

This article was co-authored by Clinton M. Sandvick, JD, PhD . Clinton M. Sandvick worked as a civil litigator in California for over 7 years. He received his JD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998 and his PhD in American History from the University of Oregon in 2013. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 94% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 72,506 times.

Visiting someone in prison requires some planning on your part. Once you know which prison the inmate is staying at, you need to make sure that you have been put on the inmate’s visiting list. This may require a letter to the inmate. On the day that you are scheduled to visit, you must be sure to dress appropriately and avoid bringing in any prohibited items. Prisons encourage visitation, and once you understand the ground rules then visitation should go smoothly.

Preparing to Visit

• In the United States, you can find a prisoner in the federal system by visiting the Federal Bureau of Prisons and entering the prisoner’s Inmate Register Number. [2] X Research source
• In England and Wales, you can find a prisoner by visiting https://www.gov.uk/find-prisoner . There is an email and fax number provided for you to contact.

• how to get put on the prisoner’s visitation list
• what identification you need
• what items are prohibited from being brought into the prison
• any dress code

• Most prisons ask prisoners to create a visiting list. The inmate then lists family members, friends, and professionals (like attorneys or parole advisors) on the list. [3] X Research source
• You need to be added to the list before you can visit. In order to ask the inmate to put you on, you will probably need to write a letter and ask to be put on. You should also include relevant information that the inmate might need, such as your full name, address, and phone number. [4] X Research source

• Sometimes these applications will be sent to you before you arrive at the prison, and in some prisons you will fill them out as you wait to be admitted.

Visiting the Prison

• revealing shorts or miniskirts
• halter tops, see-through garments, and belly shirts
• low cut blouses, sleeveless shirts, or dresses with slits up the side, front, or back
• baseball hats
• military fatigues or other clothing that looks like inmate clothing

• your identification
• single car key
• bills or change to use with the vending machine
• a bottle and diaper for a baby

• Check with the prison before showing up for visitation. You want to make sure that you have an acceptable form of identification.

• You may be limited in the amount of touching allowed. Prisons may allow hugs, handshakes, and kisses at the beginning and end of the visit. Otherwise, the guards stationed during visitation may limit touching so that visitors aren’t smuggling contraband to prisoners.
• If a guard tells you to stop touching, then you should comply with the order. You may be removed from the visitation if you fail to comply.

Expert Q&A

• Prisons might have different rules for minors. For example, minors under a certain age may not be able to visit without an adult present. If someone under 18 wants to visit the prison, then you certainly need to call ahead and ask if there are special procedures for minors. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www2.illinois.gov/idoc/offender/pages/inmatesearch.aspx
• ↑ https://www.bop.gov/inmates/visiting.jsp
• ↑ http://www.prisonpro.com/content/visiting-inmate-answers-common-questions-things-you-should-know

About This Article

Visiting someone in prison can be stressful and emotional, but knowing the rules and regulations before your visit will make things easier. Since rules vary from prison to prison, it’s best to check their website or call them for details about what to do. Usually, the prisoner will need to put you on their visiting list and you’ll need to fill out an application when you get there. Since prisons can sometimes get locked down, it’s a good idea to call ahead to make sure visiting hours are still open. Try to arrive 20 minutes early so you have time to park and go through security, and remember to bring your ID with you. For more tips from our Legal co-author, including how to find out which prison a person is held at, read on. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts

The following documents provide general information for incarcerated individuals with problems or concerns related to visitation rights:

Interference with Attorney, Paralegal, or Law Student Visit

Visitation problems at county facilities, visitation problems at state prisons.

Visitation Rights of Unmarried Incarcerated Fathers

Attorneys, paralegals, and law students are entitled to special protections when they visit an incarcerated client. The rights of attorneys, paralegals, and law students to enter prison without harassment were litigated in a Suffolk Superior Court case called  Greenblatt v. Fair – a copy of that decision is attached. Two sections of the Department of Correction regulations also govern visitation in prisons. Visits by legal professionals are covered in  103 CMR 486.00  et seq. Visitation, in general, is covered by  103 CMR 483.00  et seq., some of which apply to legal visits.

If an attorney, paralegal, or law student is asked to submit to any body search in order to enter prison, or if any other privileges extended by regulation to legal visitors are denied, they should contact the Department of Correction legal department at (617) 727-3300 ext.124, and ask to speak to the attorney of the day. Due to resource restraints, MCLS is unable to advocate on behalf of legal professionals who experiences interference with a legal visit. We can offer advice to any legal professional who experiences interference with a legal visit on how to advocate for him or herself. If you are calling from a prison or jail while you are trying to get access to your client, please call this office at 1(800)882-1413, ask for the intake attorney and explain that you need to speak to someone right then due to your circumstances.

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Chapter 103, section 950  of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations sets out the rules for visiting incarcerated individuals in county facilities. These regulations give general information for those who want to visit a person in a jail or house of correction and also set out the rules regarding searches of visitors and concerning what a visitor must do if he or she is barred from visiting the jail. Each county jail and house of correction has its own particular visitation rules that specify the hours of visits, which individuals can get visits on each day of the week, what the clothing requirements are for visitors, etc. You can get those local rules from each jail or house of correction.

Unfortunately, MCLS does not represent people who have problems visiting their friends and relatives.

If you have been barred, or if you are an incarcerated individual whose visitor has been barred, you should follow the procedures in 103 CMR 950.05. If you are barred, you are entitled to written notification of the bar, and you are entitled to a review of the bar if you ask for one in writing.

950.05: Exclusion of Visitors

The visiting plan shall contain policy and procedure including, but not limited to, the following:

• Any visitor, even one who has obtained prior permission to visit, may be denied entrance to the facility or told to terminate a visit and leave the premises;
• A visitor who is denied entrance or asked to leave shall be told the reason for such action, except when it is deemed that to specify the reason might jeopardize security interests or the safety of any person or the facility;
• The officer(s) responsible for denying entrance or terminating a visit shall file a written report with the Sheriff/Facility Administrator, in accordance with Sheriffs Department policy. This report shall include the name of the visitor and the inmate visited, the time for the denial or termination, and the reasons for the action;
• When the Sheriff/Facility Administrator denies, suspends, or places restrictions on visiting privileges, the visitor shall be notified in writing of the reasons for such action, unless specification of the reason would jeopardize security interests or the safety of the individuals or the facility. The visitor may request a review of such action by writing the Sheriff/Facility Administrator. The Sheriff/Facility Administrator shall respond to all such requests in writing informing the visitor of the reasons for upholding, eliminating or modifying the original action;
• A statement that visiting privileges may be suspended for a specific time and procedures for reapplication of visiting privileges;
• Nothing in 103 CMR 950.00 shall in any way impair the Sheriff s or a designee’s authority pursuant to M.G.L. c. 127, s. 36 to exclude a visitor whenever, in the administration’s opinion admitting that person to visit would be injurious to the best interest of the facility or the administration of the facility; and,
• Before any attorney or any of the officials listed in 103 CMR 950.03(2)(b) is excluded, the Sheriff/Facility Administrator or other officer in charge shall be consulted. The attorney or official may immediately appeal any exclusion to the Sheriff.

950.04: Searches of Visitors

The visiting plan shall contain policy and procedure for the conducting of searches of visitors, and shall include, but not be limited to, the following

• A large sign posted in the lobby or other entrance warning that, “ALL VISITORS ARE SUBJECT TO BEING SEARCHED”, and containing the same wording in Spanish, “TODAS LAS VISITAS ESTAN SUJETAS A REVISION”, or a language which is understood by a significant number of visitors;
• A search procedure effective in preventing the smuggling of articles into the visiting area of the facility; to include that visitors successfully pass through a metal detector or scanner, or a pat down, and that any articles they are carrying may be thoroughly searched,
• If the search procedure is to include a more extensive search than mentioned above (up to and including a strip search), the following shall be included: (a) authorization from the Sheriff/Facility Administrator or designee for such search; (b) the visitor must be informed that he may leave the facility rather than submit to such a search. If he agrees to said search, a record of consent must be documented noting date, time, individual being searched and individuals conducting search; (c) the officer(s) conducting a more extensive search shall file a written report concerning the search with the Sheriff/Facility Administrator prior to the end of his tour of duty. The report shall contain the name of the visitor, the names of the searching officers and of the official who approved the search, the extent of the search, and what, if anything, was found;
• No search of a visitor’s body cavities (anal or genital) shall be conducted by corrections personnel. If a search less intrusive than a body cavity search (of anal or genital body cavities) is insufficient to eliminate suspicions that the visitor is smuggling, the visitor shall be denied admission;
• Any person refusing to submit to any aspect of the search procedure shall be denied entrance to the facility. Where the refusal occurs under circumstances indicating that the most likely motive for refusal is to prevent discovery of concealed articles, where a suspicious pattern of refusals is apparent, or where a visitor engages in offensive or assaultive behavior during the search process, visiting privileges may be suspended or terminated;
• Pat searches that involve removal of more than just external clothing and accessories shall be conducted by a correctional employee of the same sex as the visitor, conducted in private, and documented with a written report. Searches are to be conducted in a professional and courteous manner; and,
• Papers and documents carried in or out by any judge, attorney, law student, paralegal, the governor, any legislator or member of the parole board may be inspected for concealed articles but may not be read.

950.03: Identification and Sign-In 

The written plan shall contain a means to identify and register visitors to the facility and shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• A visitor shall be required to produce a current photographic identification such as a Massachusetts driver’s license or a passport. (Exceptions may be made by the Sheriff/Facility Administrator or his designee);
• if the visitor answers that he has been convicted of a felony, the visitor may be required, as a condition of entry, to provide a statement of the crime(s) for which he was convicted and the sentence served.
• the following persons generally may not be asked to provide the statement generally required by 103 CMR 950.03(2): the Governor, a member of the Governor’s Council, a member of the General Court, a Justice of the Supreme Judicial, Superior or District Court, the Attorney General, a District Attorney, the Commissioner, a Deputy or Associate Commissioner of Correction, Sheriff, County Commissioners, a member of the Parole Board, a Parole or Probation Officer, or others as designated by the Sheriff/Facility Administrator. Any such officer shall be required to sign his name, business address and the office which brings him within the exemption from the normal sign-in requirement.
• Each visitor shall be asked by the admitting officer before entrance into the facility if he has a weapon. All weapons shall be given to the officer prior to entry to the facility.

Chapter 103, section 483  of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations sets out the rules for visiting incarcerated individuals in county facilities. These regulations give some general information about visiting someone in prison as well as stating the rules regarding searches of visitors and what you can do when a visitor is barred from visiting. Each institution has a set of visiting rules which is more specific about visitation times and the rules and dress code for visitors. This information can be obtained from the institution.

Unfortunately, MCLS is unable to provide advocacy to people who have experienced problems with visiting their family or friends in prison.

If you have been barred from visiting, or if you are an incarcerated person whose visitor has been barred, the procedures in 103 CMR 483.16 must be followed. If you are suspended from visiting, you are entitled to written notice and the opportunity to respond in writing within fifteen working days. The superintendent should give you a response within two weeks of a request for re-entry. You should also ask for an informal meeting with the superintendent, which is permitted in section 6.

483.16: Exclusion of Visitors 

• Any visitor, even one who has obtained prior permission to visit, may be denied entrance to the institution or told to terminate a visit and leave the premises. M.G.L. c. 266, s. 123 makes it a criminal trespass to refuse to leave an institution after being ordered by an officer to do so.
• A visitor who is denied entrance or asked to leave shall be told the reason for such action, except when it is deemed that to specify the reason might jeopardize security interests or the safety of any person.
• Where the problem is something that clearly can be remedied, the visitor may be told that he may return to the institution at some specified time in the near future (such as the next day or the next visiting period) or upon satisfaction of some stated condition (such as having sufficient identification or being properly dressed). In cases where this is not appropriate, the visitor shall be told to await notification from the superintendent before returning to the institution.
• The officer(s) responsible for denying entrance or terminating a visit shall, except where such denial or termination is based on prior order of the superintendent, or on a failure to obtain prior permission to visit where such permission is required by 103 CMR 483.11, file an incident report with the superintendent, prior to the end of the shift. This report shall include the name of the visitor and the inmate-visitee, the time of the denial or termination and the reasons therefor. If the visitor has been informed that he may return at some specified time in the near future or upon satisfaction of some condition, the report shall so indicate.
• In a case where the visitor has been told that he may return to the institution at some specified time or upon the satisfaction of some stated condition, the superintendent may take no action, thus allowing the resumption of visits to occur.
• The superintendent may notify the visitor that he may return to the institution to resume visiting.
• The superintendent may notify the visitor in writing that he may resume visiting under specified conditions.
• The superintendent may notify the visitor in writing that visiting privileges are suspended for a specified period up to one year and that he may reapply for admission at the end of the period or that readmission will be automatic. The written notice shall contain a statement of the reasons for the superintendent’s action except when, in the opinion of the superintendent, specifying reasons might jeopardize security interests or the safety of any individual. A copy of each such notice shall be sent forthwith to the Commissioner, and a. copy shall be given to the inmate who is visited by the visitor.
• Every superintendent’s notice pursuant to 103 CMR 483.16(5)(c) and (d), shall advise the visitor that he may seek a review or reconsideration of the barring, suspension, or restrictions by the superintendent by sending him a letter within 15 business days. The visitor’s letter shall include a detailed narrative describing the incident and setting forth the reason the visitor feels the bar, suspension or restriction should be lifted. The visitor may also request an informal meeting with the Superintendent or a designee.
• The superintendent shall review any visitor’s letter and shall respond no later than two weeks from receipt of a letter seeking review or reconsideration of any bar, suspension or restriction still in effect. The superintendent may take any action he deems necessary to resolve questions raised by a visitor’s letter including, but not limited to, additional investigation of the facts, consultation with the Commissioner, the Department’s legal office, or the conducting of an informal meeting or conference. After review, the superintendent may eliminate, reduce, or modify the specific limitations on visiting. No person shall be penalized for exercising the rights of appeal provided by 103 CMR 483.00.
• Before any attorney or any of the officials listed in 103 CMR 483.11(2)(a), is excluded, the superintendent or other officer in charge shall be consulted. The superintendent shall consult with the General Counsel regarding any attorney and the Commissioner regarding any of the officials listed in 103 CMR 483.11(2)(a), prior to any bar. The superintendent shall then make the decision as to whether exclusion is appropriate. Within 15 business days of any such exclusion, the superintendent shall take any of the actions listed in 103 CMR 483.16(5). In addition to rights to seek reconsideration or review by the superintendent, pursuant to 103 CMR 483.16(6), the attorney or official may immediately appeal any exclusion to the Commissioner.
• Whenever an inmate is transferred out of an institution whose regular visitor is currently suspended or barred from visiting, the superintendent of the institution to which he is transferred shall be notified by the sending institution of the suspension or bar. The suspended visitor may apply to the superintendent of the new institution for permission to visit. The superintendent may allow the visit, or deny visitation for a period not to exceed the original suspension.
• Nothing in 103 CMR 483.00 shall in any way impair the superintendent’s authority pursuant to M.G.L. c. 127, s. 37 to exclude a visitor whenever, in the superintendent’s opinion, admitting that person to visit would be injurious to the best interests of the institution, or the superintendent’s and Commissioner’s authority pursuant to M.G.L. c. 127, s. 36 to deny permission to visit.

  483.15: Conduct of Visitors 

Visitors shall be expected to dress and conduct themselves reasonably and not to engage in physical contact with inmates that is excessive or inappropriate for a public place. Serious deviations from appropriate standards of behavior may result in administrative action such as warning, termination of a visit, or suspension or loss of visiting privileges.

483.14: Searches of Visitors 

• Each superintendent shall have posted a large sign in the lobby or other entrance warning that, “ALL VISITORS ARE SUBJECT TO BEING SEARCHED,” and containing the same wording in Spanish, “TODAS LAS VISITAS ESTAN SUJETAS A REVISION.”
• Each superintendent shall establish a search procedure that is effective in preventing the smuggling of articles of articles into the visiting area of the institution. The search procedure may include as a prerequisite to admission that visitors successfully pass through a metal detector and/or scanner, and/or a personal search, and that any articles they are carrying be thoroughly searched. Where a visitor is unable to clear a metal detector and/or scanner, the visitor may be asked to remove and submit for examination by a staff member outer articles of clothing that may be causing a high reading. The search procedure may also include personal searches of visitors who have already passed the initial screening and proceeded into the institution.
• A personal search of a visitor may not be conducted without prior authorization of the shift commander. The visitor shall be granted the opportunity to leave the institution rather than submit to a personal search unless; (a) The employee has those arrest powers granted by the authority of M.G.L. c. 127, s. 127 and; (b) The employee has probable cause to believe that the visitor has committed an arrestable offense; and (c) The employee has probable cause to believe that the visitor has seizable evidence concealed on his person. Under these conditions, a personal search incident to arrest may be conducted.
• Before conducting any such strip search, a correctional officer shall relate to his Shift Commander his reason for suspecting that the visitor may be carrying concealed articles. Strip searches may take place only with the approval of the Superintendent or a designee. If the visitor agrees to the strip search, the visitor shall record such consent by signing a log book kept for that purpose. The searching employee shall enter the date and time of the search and sign the log as well.
• The employee has those arrest powers granted by the authority of M.G.L. c. 127, s. 127 and;
• The employee has probable cause to believe that the visitor has committed an arrestable offense; and
• The employee has probable cause to believe that the visitor has seizable evidence concealed on his person. Under these conditions, a personal search incident to arrest may be conducted. (c) The officer(s) conducting any strip search shall file an incident report concerning the search with the superintendent prior to the end of the shift. The report shall contain the name of the visitor, the names of the searching officers and of the official who approved the search, the extent of the search, and what, if anything, was found.
• Employees may only conduct a visual inspection of a visitors oral, anal or genital cavities. Any more intrusive form of search requires a search warrant. The assistance of the District Attorney for the county in which the institution is located shall be requested in that event.
• Any person refusing to submit to any aspect of the search procedure shall be denied entrance to the institution. Where the refusal occurs under circumstances indicating that the most likely motive for refusal is to prevent discovery of concealed articles, where a suspicious pattern of refusals is apparent, or where a visitor engages in offensive or assaultive behavior during the search process, his visiting privileges may be suspended or terminated. The procedures outlined in 103 CMR 483.16, shall be followed.
• Employees conducting searches shall do so in a professional and courteous manner.
• Personal searches and strip searches shall be conducted by a correctional employee of the same sex as the visitor. Searches that involve removal of more than external clothing and accessories shall be conducted in private.
• Papers and documents carried in or out by any judge, attorney, law student, paralegal, the Governor, any legislator or member of the parole board may be inspected for concealed articles but shall not be read.

In order to obtain a court order requiring visitation privileges when the mother has refused to allow your children to visit you in jail or prison, you must first establish that you are the father. This can be done in two ways:

• File a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity signed by both you and the mother of the child; or
• File a Complaint to Establish Paternity in the Probate Court. This Complaint should ask that the Probate Court rule you are the father. In such a complaint, you could also ask the Court to order visitation.

If it appears unlikely that the mother will cooperate in any way, you will have to file a Complaint to Establish Paternity. The court is required to prepare forms that can be used by persons proceeding  pro se  (without an attorney). You should write the court and ask them to send you the appropriate paternity forms. Tell them that you are indigent and ask them to send you an Affidavit of Indigency.

You should file the Complaint in the Probate Court of the county where your child(ren) resides. You should also send the court an Affidavit of Indigency, which the court should provide for you, together with a simple motion you should prepare to request visitation. It is best if possible to name one of your female relatives in your motion as the person who can take your children to prison to see you; the courts tend to be most open to visitation in prison under those conditions. It would also be a good idea to write a cover letter to the court explaining that you are in prison and asking to be informed of any additional steps you must take.

Once you have filed the Complaint, the court will send you a summons. This can be served by leaving a copy of the summons and complaint at your ex’s last and usual residence and by mailing copies to her as well, at her last and usual residence.

If you have additional questions or concerns that you would like assistance with, please call us during our intake hours on Monday (or Tuesday if Monday is a holiday):

1:00pm – 4:00pm

or write us a letter to:

50 Federal Street 4th Floor Boston, MA 02110

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Supporting Families: Communication and Visitation Options

Posted 9/8/2023 by Mark Miclette Inmate & Family Issues

Did you know communicating with and visiting an inmate in jail or prison might do more than just help keep their spirits high during their time behind bars? It could also increase the chances of them turning their life around once they get out.

Over the years, quite a few studies have shown that inmates who communicate with their loved ones and receive visits from them are less likely to end up back in jail in the future. This should motivate you to want to keep in contact with loved ones in jail or prison and find out about jail visiting hours so that you can go to see them.

It can, however, be a little bit confusing trying to navigate your way through the different communication and jail visitation options you'll have. This guide will walk you through these options. It'll allow you to keep in touch with an inmate and take advantage of inmate visitation hours.

Communication Options for Those With Loved Ones in Jail or Prison

Visiting an inmate every week or even every month might not always be a possibility for you. In some cases, a jail or prison where a loved one is housed might be situated too far from your home and make it impossible for you to go and see them all the time. In other instances, your schedule might not work well with the jail visiting hours at a particular jail or prison.

But this doesn't mean you can't still provide plenty of moral support to a loved one who is spending time in jail or prison. There are a handful of ways in which you can continue to communicate with them and show your support for them throughout their jail or prison stint. Here are several of the best communication options you'll have.

Communicating by Phone

Communicating with a loved one who is in jail or prison by phone will be one of the simplest ways to stay in touch with them. But there are some things you'll need to keep in mind before you begin communicating with them in this way.

First and foremost, be aware of the fact that your calls with them can and likely will be monitored. You'll also typically only have a certain amount of time that you can speak with an inmate at a jail or prison by phone.

Additionally, communicating by phone with a loved one who is in jail or prison can be costly. In many cases, you will need to accept collect calls from them to communicate in this way, which will put the onus on you to pay for these calls.

A better option might be to see if your loved one is able to set up a pre-paid account through a jail or prison. It'll enable you to add funds to this account so that an inmate can contact you without having to call you collect.

Communicating by Email

Back in the late 2000s, a new trend started to emerge when it came to jail and prison communication options. Some jails and prisons began to allow inmates to communicate with those in the outside world through email, and this trend has continued right up until the present day.

However, you should know that communicating with a loved one who is in jail or prison through email will be different than communicating with others through email. You'll need to sign up for a special system that'll enable you to communicate with a loved one who is in jail or prison. You'll also often have to pay to send emails to them and have your emails screened in advance.

Communicating by Video

Speaking with a loved one who is in jail or prison in real-time through a screen isn't quite the same as finding out what the jail visiting hours are at their facility and going to see them. But it might be the next best thing.

Not all jails and prisons offer inmates the chance to communicate with their loved ones through video calls. But at least some of them have started to extend this opportunity. You should see if it might be an option for your loved one and find out which system a jail or prison uses.

You will usually need to schedule video calls through this system and pay for them. But video calls might be well worth it since they'll allow you to see your loved one in the flesh.

Communicating by Mail

Believe it or not, many jails and prisons have started to ban inmates from sending and receiving letters, cards, and other forms of physical mail. With this in mind, you'll want to see if the jail or prison that your loved one is housed in has created any mail restrictions.

If they have, you'll need to use one of the other communication options to connect with them. But if they haven't, you should be able to send mail to them as long as you follow the rules regarding mail and give jails and prisons the right to read through messages sent through the mail.

Visitation Options for Those With Loved Ones in Jail or Prison

As you've just seen, there are a variety of great ways to stay connected with a loved one when they're in jail or prison without visiting them. But whenever possible, you should make it a point to pay your loved one a visit.

Visiting an inmate will give them something to look forward to while they're serving a sentence. It'll also keep their connection with the outside world alive. Here are a few things to remember about jail visitation .

Figuring Out the Jail Visiting Hours

Every jail and prison will have its own jail visiting hours set up. You should be able to find the inmate visitation hours for the jail or prison where your loved one is locked up right on its website.

You might also want to reach out to a jail or prison to double-check its jail visiting hours ahead of time, especially if you're going to have to make a long trek to it. It'll help you avoid arriving at a jail or prison to see a loved one only to discover that its jail visiting hours have been changed for one reason or another.

Getting Pre-Approved for Jail Visitation

Every jail and prison takes a slightly different approach to jail visitation approvals. But more often than not, you will need to get pre-approved to go and see a loved one in jail or prison.

To get pre-approval, your loved one will likely need to create a visitor list and give it to the officials at a jail or prison. The jail or prison will then ask you to fill out several forms, run a background check on you, and let you know whether or not you've been approved for visits.

Seeing Which Types of Visitation a Jail or Prison Offers

There are a few different types of visitation that jails and prisons might offer. It'll be up to you to see which options will be available to you when you go to visit a loved one in a jail or prison.

You might be required to speak to a loved one through a glass partition during an in-person visit. You might also get the chance to sit in the same room with them with a jail or prison staff member watching over you. In this case, you'll be happy to hear the answer to the question, "Can you hug an inmate?", will often be "yes."

The answer to the question, "Can you hug an inmate?", will also be "yes" if a jail or prison allows conjugal visits. Some states continue to allow these types of visitation, which will give an inmate a chance to visit with someone overnight.

Abiding by the Jail Visitation Rules and Regulations

As you would probably expect, there are many jail visitation rules and regulations you'll need to follow when visiting a loved one in jail or prison. To start, you'll need to be prepared to abide by the jail visiting hours that have been put in place.

You might also be required to do things like:

• Provide jail or prison officials with at least one valid form of ID
• Stick to a conservative dress code
• Steer clear of trying to bring anything in to an inmate

If you break any rules and regulations while visiting an inmate in jail or prison, it could prevent you from being able to come back for future visits. It could also lead to your loved one losing communication and visitation privileges and potentially suffering other consequences.

Visiting an Inmate in Jail or Prison Can Work Wonders for Them

Communicating with and visiting an inmate in jail or prison can be great for them. It can lift their spirits and show them that those in the outside world haven't forgotten about them.

Use what you've learned here to communicate with and visit a loved one who is behind bars. Just make sure you follow all the appropriate rules and know what the jail visiting hours are before doing anything else.

Take a look at our jail search function to learn more about the rules and regulations that a particular jail or prison has established.

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How to Prepare for a Prison Visit

Visiting a family member in prison presents its own bundle of challenges. Just knowing what to expect can reduce stress. Being prepared can raise the bar for positive visitation experiences, possibly snowballing into more visits, and hopefully, improved relationships.

Since studies point to lower recidivism rates for prisoners who stay connected to supportive family members, positive prison visits end up benefiting everyone: prisoners, families, and the community. For the 1.5 million children and youth who have at least one incarcerated parent, visiting their parent(s) can strengthen family bonds.

To be prepared, consider the following information the first time visiting someone in prison. Please keep in mind that rules vary among prisons.

BEFORE VISITING PRISON

Be approved.

Be sure your name is on the prisoner's pre-approved visiting list for people age 18 and older. Information on the form allows officials to do background checks to approve or deny visitation. Most facilities require this form, but verify with the facility to be sure. Some facilities also require an authorization form for children.

Check the facility's visitation hours, which are typically weekends and holidays, and possibly additional days depending on the facility and security level. Visit the Federal Bureau of Prisons'  website to see a list of federal prisons; for state or private prisons, directly contact the facility.

BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU CAN BRING

Check the facility's policy for what is allowed in the visiting room. Generally, visitors can only bring in identification (such as a driver's license), a single car key, eyeglasses, small bills, or change for vending machines (if applicable) in visitation rooms.

No medications, tobacco products, or any illegal substances are allowed. Cell phones or other electronic devices are also not permitted.

Other restrictions might include rules about bringing in food or gifts.

DURING THE PRISON VISIT

Dress appropriately.

Wear appropriate clothing. Avoid provocative, revealing items and anything similar to prison clothing such as khaki or green military-type. Visitors may be denied access if dress code policies are violated.

ARRIVE EARLY

Give yourself an extra 15-20 minutes to fill out paperwork. Be prepared to be searched before being admitted into the visiting room. Searches may include a pat down by an officer of the same gender and a pass through a metal detector. All visitors must be searched, including children.

Before bringing children, consider visiting alone first so you can explain what to expect.

BE RESPECTFUL

Show courtesy to all correctional staff, other visitors, and prisoners to ensure a positive visiting experience for everyone.

SHOW AFFECTION IN MODERATION

Handshakes, hugs, and affection (in good taste) are usually allowed at the beginning and end of a visit.

To keep the visiting area orderly and to prevent the distribution of contraband, security staff may limit physical contact.

SUPERVISE CHILDREN

Be aware of you and your children's behavior to avoid the risk of losing visiting privileges.

BE A GOOD LISTENER

Extend a listening ear to the prisoner you are visiting. A little understanding can go a long way.

AFTER THE PRISON VISIT

Mail a letter to the prisoner to continue building the relationship. Be sure to check with the facility first to ensure permission.

Encourage the prisoner to get involved in prison programs to cope with prison life and to take reentry classes for a successful reentry plan. Prison Fellowship ® offers several in-prison programs —ranging from faith-based seminars to life-skills classes—in prisons across the country.

GET INVOLVED

Explore involvement in a local church that provides support for prisoners, former prisoners, and their families. Check out Prison Fellowship's efforts in reentry , church and community engagement, and Angel Tree ® .

Consider involvement in Celebrate Recovery , a nationwide Christ-centered recovery program that is forward-looking and emphasizes personal responsibility and spiritual growth.

Or check out an online support group such as DailyStrenth that is dedicated to families impacted by incarceration, or the National Association for Christian Recovery that provides resources and free online training in topics including 12-step recovery, parenting addicted children, recovering from childhood trauma, etc.

Finally, be a part of Prison Fellowship's Second Prison Project™ . Find out how you can help your loved one and others with reentry and adjusting to life with a criminal record.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Visiting loved ones in prison can lead to stronger relationships and help beat the odds of someone returning to prison. And that's definitely raising the bar for good.

Other helpful websites include Assisting Families of Inmates and PrisonPro.com .

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In-Person Visitation

Maintaining and improving relationships between incarcerated individuals and their families, friends, and loved ones is one of Maryland's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) key initiatives. Strengthening this bond offers a support net that can help incarcerated individuals not only achieve success after they leave the Department, but also heal their families and social support systems. Maryland DPSCS views visitation as a privilege that is an important part of incarcerated individual'S development and case management.

Effective immediately, Maryland DPSCS will begin slowly transitioning back to in-person incarcerated individual visitation, with newly instated COVID-19 protocols. All Visitors are subject to a COVID-19 screening questionnaire, temperature check and must wear a mask (covering nose and mouth) at all times.

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Jails in California Must Allow Face to Face Lawyer Visits with Inmates

One of our most treasured constitutional rights is the right to have a lawyer if you are accused of a crime. Encompassed within this right is the ability to effectively communicate with your attorney, and the right to do so in a private setting. In a recent case, inmates’ rights to communicate effectively and privately with their attorneys were called into question.

How Attorneys and Inmates Meet

Claiming it was done for safety reasons, officials at the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility restricted attorneys from meeting their clients in rooms that don’t have glass partitions except by special request. The reasoning behind this was that the jail population had increased while the staff had been reduced.

Most inmates only had the ability to speak to their attorneys through a phone system, but sound was muffled and unclear. Some attorneys attempted to speak through the glass, but it required them to yell.

The attorneys’ side was equipped with soundproof walls, but the inmates’ side was not. That meant that anyone could hear the inmates as they shouted private information to their attorneys. Inmates demanded that “contact visits” (or face-to-face) meetings be restored.

What Did the Court Decide?

When it comes to attorney jail visits, the courts often defer to jail officials. The courts typically believe that officials at the jail will best know what is safe at their particular facility, and what is within their budgets. However, the cost of protecting constitutional rights cannot justify a blanket denial of inmates’ rights.

Citing the Fourteenth Amendment, the courts have established that jail and prison facilities have an obligation to make sure inmates have meaningful access to the courts, including the right to face-to-face meetings with their attorneys.

The court agreed that there is no constitutional right to “unrestricted contact visits with counsel.” The Sixth Amendment does not guarantee an absolute right to a “‘meaningful relationship’” between an accused and his counsel and physical touch between a lawyer and an inmate is not guaranteed. Contact visits may be restricted if there is a legitimate justification. But, policies and practices that unjustifiably obstruct the right to assistance of counsel are invalid, the court decided. Unjustified restrictions on contact visits implicate due process and are a proper subject of concern for the courts.

Do Inmates Get to Meet with Attorneys Face to Face?

In determining whether jail restrictions on attorney contact visits are reasonable, the relevant factors the court considered were:

• Whether there is a valid, rational connection between the jail restriction and the legitimate governmental interest put forward to justify it;
• Whether there are alternative means of exercising the right;
• How the accommodation of the asserted right will impact guards, other inmates and the allocation of jail resources; and
• Whether the restriction is an exaggerated response to jail concerns

Taking these factors into consideration, the court determined that the restrictions were not appropriate in this instance. The court was careful to state that this is not a blanket decision, and that perhaps different kinds of restrictions may be appropriate as long as there is proper justification.

Call an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney Today

If your constitutional rights are being denied, you need to speak to an experienced criminal defense attorney at Wallin & Klarich immediately. Our skilled criminal lawyers will fight for your rights and help you navigate the complex legal system. We have been successfully defending our clients facing criminal charges for over 40 years. We can help you now.

Our offices are located in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Torrance, Victorville, Ventura, West Covina and Sherman Oaks. We are available to help you now matter where you work or live.

AUTHOR: Paul Wallin

Paul Wallin is one of the most highly respected attorneys in Southern California. His vast experience, zealous advocacy for his clients and extensive knowledge of many areas of the law make Mr. Wallin a premiere Southern California attorney. Mr. Wallin founded Wallin & Klarich in 1981. As the senior partner of Wallin & Klarich, Mr. Wallin has been successfully representing clients for more than 30 years. Clients come to him for help in matters involving assault and battery, drug crimes, juvenile crimes, theft, manslaughter, sex offenses, murder, violent crimes, misdemeanors and felonies. Mr. Wallin also helps clients with family law matters such as divorce and child custody.

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Hablamos español, jail visits from your lawyer – process, limitations, and considerations.

by Gilles Law | Jul 7, 2021 | Blog Posts

Jail visits from your lawyer – Sometimes when someone is charged with a crime, they can get out on bond while their case goes through the criminal justice process. Other times however the defendant is in pre-trail confinement . This largely depends on their previous record, severity of the crime, and unfortunately, the financial position of the defendant. This is because in North Carolina State Court, like many other jurisdictions, the financial bond system is still in use.

When a defendant is in jail, he must communicate with his lawyer regarding the facts and circumstances of his case through the process of jail visits. How does he relay information, how does his lawyer give him information, and how does he get or view his discovery? These are the questions that we hope to answer. In this blog, we will discuss jail visits from your lawyer. Like all our blogs, this is intended for general informational purposes only and not intended as a substitute for the advice and counsel of a criminal defense attorney .

Jail visits from your lawyer – the process

If someone is in jail, their lawyer will be able to visit them any day of the year, with some rare exceptions. The jail is open 7 days a week and is open on all holidays. Every jail has certain visiting hours where a lawyer can see you, the visiting hours vary from county to county. No advanced appointments are usually necessary, and the attorney can come and see you anytime he or she is free if they bring their photo identification and their bar card.

When you get a jail visit from your lawyer, there is a log or record made of that visit and each visit. There are often time limits to the visit since there are times when jail visits are not available. For example, there may be a break in the middle of the day so that the residents of the jail can be fed lunch. During that time in many counties the jail visit must stop.

Jail visits from your lawyer – the limitations

Communication with your lawyer through a jail visit is not always ideal but sometimes is the only real option that is available. Phone calls can be problematic, but we will talk about that later.

There are several limits to jail visits including but not limited to the following :

• There is limited privacy, sometimes people can hear your conversations and you can hear theirs if you are in a booth near each other.
• You lawyer’s time is in high demand so he may not be able to see you as often as you would like.
• There is limited physical contact so certain demonstrations will not be possible.
• There is a limit to what can be given to the client, so sharing discovery and other things can be tricky.

Jail visits from your lawyer and attorney client privilege

Your communication with your attorney regarding jail visits are protected under attorney client privilege . Your phone calls with your attorney while you are in jail are also covered under attorney client privilege unless it is not because of a third pay. If you call your attorney directly, your conversation is privileged. If you call someone and have them call your attorney on some sort of conference call, you are not protected by attorney client privilege.

DO NOT TALK TO ANYONE ELSE AT THE JAIL ABOUT THE FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF YOUR CASE .

DISCLAIMER – This forum is intended for general questions and comments about the particular law or topic. Comments are public and are not protected by confidentiality or attorney-client privilege; therefore, they can be used against you in court. Please refrain from revealing your identify or specifics about any actual criminal case. No attorney-client relationship is created in this forum.

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How Attorney-Client Privilege Breaks Down When The Client Is In Prison

11 May How Attorney-Client Privilege Breaks Down When The Client Is In Prison

The right to have confidential conversations with an attorney in the English-based legal system dates back to at least 1577 . In 1973’s United States v. Rosner , the U.S. Supreme Court maintained that government interfering in attorney-client communications is a violation of a person’s Sixth Amendment rights. Even in prison, the attorney-client privilege is supposed to be a bedrock principle of the American justice system. But in 2021, attorneys and activists are concerned that that right is being threatened in prison systems around the country.

Prison email and messaging services bake privilege-destroying agreements into their terms and conditions.

While there are some exceptions, attorney-client privilege generally applies to all communications between those two parties. That includes digital communications such as email or instant messaging. But when it comes to people in prison and their legal counsel, that isn’t always the case .

The BOP uses a system called TRULINCS that gives people in prison limited access to email. It is the only possible way for BOP residents to send or receive emails. Yet users must agree to allow the company and the prison to monitor their emails as part of TRULINCS’ terms and conditions of use.

State Departments of Corrections contract their email and messaging services through JPay. Content monitoring is also a part of JPay’s terms and conditions . These terms even have a specific warning not to use the system for legal communications. It says, “The Service should not be used by attorneys to communicate with incarcerated individuals as the content of your email will not be treated as privileged and confidential.”

Phone calls are also supposed to be confidential, but are often not.

Prison systems in the United States have also violated attorney-client privilege in phone calls between incarcerated people and their attorneys. Those actions are the subjects of multiple lawsuits.

In 2018, a federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit against CoreCivic, a private operator of the BOP facility Leavenworth Detention Center and Securus Technologies, Inc., the facility’s communications provider. Two attorneys with the Kansas Federal Public Defenders (KFPD) filed the suit. They discovered that the companies secretly recorded at least 1,338 calls between attorneys and clients between 2011 and 2013. The companies also shared some of these calls with federal prosecutors.

In 2020, CoreCivic agreed to pay $3.7 million to settle the suit. It did not, however, admit to any wrongdoing.

Another lawsuit filed against the Orange County Sheriff’s Department alleges similar violations. Both Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and GTL, the agency’s communications provider, have admitted wrongdoing. They acknowledged recording 1,079 calls to attorneys from Jan. 2015 through July 2018. According to the suit, officers accessed 58 of those calls on 87 occasions. However, the attorney who filed the suit believes the number of calls recorded may actually be “in the hundreds of thousands.”

David C. Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said that “the law has been clear for decades” about attorney-client phone privilege, yet violations still occur.

“This kind of unlawful eavesdropping occurs with alarming frequency,” he said. “Whether it’s inadvertent or intentional, prisons and jails need to have robust protections in place to ensure that this kind of snooping doesn’t happen.”

In-person meetings are often difficult. Sometimes they’re impossible.

Without the ability to communicate confidentially over phone or email, attorneys and their clients are left with the option of in-person consultations. But by design, prisons are often in rural areas.

The First Step Act did require the BOP to locate incarcerated people closer to their homes. But that provision only requires the bureau to house people within 500 driving miles of their home base. That means if someone in prison wanted to use a lawyer from their community, that attorney could end up driving eight to ten hours one way for a meeting. This presents serious logistical challenges both for attorneys and for the people who have to pay for their time.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person visitations have gone from difficult to impossible. Prison systems across the country suspended in-person visits in 2020. This left people in prison with no other way of contacting their attorneys other than phone, email or mail—which prisons also monitor .

A new bill in Congress could help address the issue.

Some lawmakers have attempted to make headway on the issue. In 2020, Rep. Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), introduced H.B. 5546 , also known as the “Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act.” The bill would require the BOP to obtain a warrant to read emails between attorneys and their incarcerated clients. While it passed the House, it never made it to the Republican-led Senate floor.

But Jeffries re-introduced the bill in February of 2021. Now labeled H.R. 546 , the “Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act” has once again passed the House by a 414-11 margin. It will soon head to the Senate, where the Democratic party holds a slight majority.

Speaking about the bill earlier this year, Jeffries alluded to both the importance and the urgency of passing the bill.

“The time has arrived for us to address this egregious practice, lift up the presumption of innocence, facilitate due process and allow fundamental fairness to permeate all aspects of our judicial system,” he said.

Laws around attorney-client privilege have failed to keep up with technology, and that has allowed prisons to violate the Sixth Amendment Rights.

The introduction of electronic communications into prisons has certainly had its benefits. Systems like TRULINCS and JPay allow families and friends to communicate more easily with an incarcerated loved one. But they have also allowed state and federal governments to bend and break the Sixth Amendment rights of the people they house.

If enacted, H.R. 546 could provide meaningful legal protection to privileged communications. But, as multiple lawsuits have shown, the illegality of doing so has not stopped government agencies from interfering in these communications to this point.

I Am Incarcerated and Charged with a Crime. How and When Should I Communicate with My Criminal Defense Lawyer?

Communications between a lawyer and a client are important to a successful attorney-client relationship. An informed client is often a happy one. Further, a lawyer who is truthfully informed by his client regarding the subject of the charges can better prepare a defense. This article provides some guidance on effective attorney-client communications, which leads to stronger relations between the parties.

There are many ways for lawyers and clients to communicate. This includes, but is not limited to, phone, text message, email, video-teleconference or chat, letters, written correspondence, and, of course, in-person.

For clients who are incarcerated, not all of these communication methods are available. People in jail do not have access to cell phones or computers for texting, emailing, or video-conferencing. This limits inmates’ ways of communicating with their lawyers to phone, letters, and in-person.

• Phone communications

Letter or written correspondence

In-person jail visits, a lawyer should periodically meet with the client, a lawyer’s true work, criminal defendants must understand.

Phone communications between lawyers and incarcerated clients present unique challenges. First, many lawyers do not accept jail calls. However, if a client calls his lawyer’s office (within reason), the call should be answered.

When making these calls, clients should be warned that outgoing jail calls are typically recorded. Most prison phone systems contain warnings to the parties that these calls are recorded. While attorney-client communications are considered private and protected by the law, the parties must do their part to keep their communications confidential. If they knowingly engage in sensitive discussions during a recorded jail call, they do so at their own risk.

Not only are jail calls recorded and monitored, but they are also reviewed by prosecutors and when they contain incriminating statements, may be offered as evidence at trial. For these reasons, jail calls to your lawyer should be kept to a minimum and not contain any sensitive information.

If you would not say it to the prosecutor or police, do not say it to your lawyer over the phone when calling from the cellblock.

If you are incarcerated and need to speak with your lawyer confidentially by phone, ask your counselor or prison authorities for permission to make a legal call.

The penal system understands that inmates need to speak with their attorneys. Jail calls are expensive, and some inmates do not have the resources for these calls.

Therefore, the jail will (or at least should) accommodate periodic, reasonable legal calls. Scheduled legal calls are private and should not be recorded. Further, scheduling the call in advance, ensures your lawyer will be available to take the call.

Another way for incarcerated clients to communicate with their lawyers is by letter or written correspondence. When an inmate receives mail from a lawyer that is clearly marked “legal” or “privileged,” the contents are not (or are not supposed to be) to be read or monitored by jail authorities.

The best lawyers keep their clients informed with letters summarizing court appearances, enclosing discovery, motions, and other materials, relaying pretrial offers from the prosecution, reporting dates, court decisions, and more.

The more informed a client is about his case, the more satisfied the client is with his lawyer’s services and the more prepared he will be to assist in his defense. Similarly, if a client has questions or ideas to communicate to his lawyer about the case, the client is encouraged to send a letter. A good lawyer will receive, read and respond to it quickly.

The final way incarcerated clients communicate with their lawyers is in person during jail visits. Normally, clients receive lawyer visits at the very beginning of the attorney-client relationship for purposes of an intake. This is when the lawyer obtains initial background information about the client and the case.

Lawyers should next visit clients to review the evidence or discovery, once received. Many lawyers receive and review the discovery on their own. These same lawyers typically do not provide their clients with a copy of the discovery.

The best lawyers provide their clients with a full copy of the discovery materials, review alone at first, and then review them together with the client. This is the best time and way for clients and lawyers to ask each other questions about the case evidence for purposes of clarification, additional investigation and discovery, possible motions, and defense strategy development.

As the case progresses to trial, motions, disposition, and sentencing, a lawyer should periodically meet with the client to prepare for these events.

Clients often – and sometimes too often – ask when their lawyers will visit. It is understandable that incarcerated clients want to see and meet with their lawyers. However, conducting many and repeated jail visits is not always practical for a lawyer or the most effective way to communicate with clients.

Clients who have one or a few non-emergency questions should consider writing a letter or scheduling a legal call. Those who need to review their discovery, discuss the law applicably, or prepare for court should meet in person. The frequency and duration of jail visits vary by case and stage of the proceedings.

For example, a lawyer waiting to receive and/or review discovery will visit a client less frequently than when the parties are preparing together for trial. The number of visits you receive from your lawyer has nothing to do with the quality of representation you are receiving, or the experience and skill of the lawyer who is representing you.

If you are incarcerated, before asking to see your lawyer in person, keep in mind that while visiting you in prison, the lawyer is not actively working on your case or any other case being handled by his office.

A lawyer’s true work is done in court, conducting research on the computer or in the law library, and, most importantly, spending quiet, uninterrupted hours thinking, planning, and strategizing in his office.

Jail visits, while important to the process, are disruptive to a lawyer’s daily work and do very little to help a client’s case. Many clients seek visits to ask their lawyers how the case is going or for a routine case update. These visits are a complete waste of the lawyer’s time.

A good lawyer sends letters and other written correspondence to update his client regularly. Therefore, visits for the limited purpose of providing these updates are unnecessary.

Lawyers want to meet with their clients, just as clients want to meet with their lawyers. However, the lawyer’s primary responsibility is to get the casework done in a manner that leads to a positive result, whether by motion, plea, at trial, and/or at sentencing.

Clients must understand that when the lawyer needs to speak with the client, he will conduct a visit. If you have a good and trustworthy lawyer, his not visiting usually means he is hard at work either for you or another client who is of equal importance to him.

A lawyer is legally and ethically required to give each client his 100% best. Most of this effort occurs outside the client’s presence. This is difficult for many clients to accept or understand, but it is absolutely true.

If you have been charged with a crime and are incarcerated, call the Law Office of John L. Calcagni, III for a free consultation.

Our office consists of a team of lawyers, paralegals, legal assistants, and investigators who are led by the dedication, experience, and committed hard work of Attorney John L. Calcagni III. By retaining our office, you will become part of the legal team devoted to your defense.

Extending Attorney-Client Privilege to Prison Email

by | Feb 20, 2020 | Amicus , Criminal Justice |

The ability to speak frankly with one’s attorney without threat of being monitored is a cornerstone of the attorney-client relationship. The inability to confer confidentially with counsel will deter clients from relaying sensitive but crucial information, thus preventing them from receiving legal representation’s full benefits. The Supreme Court recognizes attorney-client privilege as belonging to all clients, even the dead . 

Yet, the 2.3 million incarcerated people in our country remain deprived of what has become, in the Digital Age, a crucial aspect of this privilege: the exchange of confidential emails between attorneys and clients. To ensure that those in prison have equitable and fair access to representation, both the legislature and courts should direct the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to revise this system. Prisoners should be legally entitled to maintain confidentiality in their communications with attorneys.

Federal prisoners receive access to email through a system called TRULINCS , which allows electronic correspondence with members of an approved contact list. To participate in TRULINCS, prisoners must consent to monitoring of all messages , including those to and from their attorneys. In January, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries introduced a bill   in the House of Representatives that would require the Bureau of Prisons to create an email system that allows for attorney-client privilege.

As time passes and technologies around electronic communication become more sophisticated, such a system is increasingly attainable. In 2006, when BOP began piloting TRULINCS , the bureau may have had a credible argument that it did not have the technology to filter out privileged emails from the rest of prisoners’ emails. More than a decade later, however, it strains credulity to think that no feasible technical solutions are available. The New York County Lawyers Association has suggested that TRULINCS could be reconfigured to support an encryption or filtering system in “a matter of months” and at a cost of only $100,000.  

Even in the absence of a legislative mandate, federal prisoners have grounds for arguing that BOP’s email monitoring policy interferes with their constitutional rights. The district courts that have considered this issue have come to different conclusions on whether email monitoring unconstitutionally interferes with a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to access counsel. In United States v. Asaro , a case in the Eastern District of New York, Judge Allyne R. Ross found that the government’s TRULINCS policy did not “unreasonably interfere” with the defendant’s ability to consult with counsel because he could maintain privileged communication with his attorney via phone calls, mail, and in-person visits.

This analysis fails to contemplate the full extent to which incarcerated defendants are burdened by practical limitations on their ability to communicate with counsel. Attorneys may need to travel several hours and undergo time-consuming security measures to visit their clients in prison, and mail usually takes days to arrive. According to BOP policy , prisoners are entitled only to the “occassional unmonitored call” to their attorney, with the burden on the prisoner to show that their current level of phone access is inadequate. These complications and delays compound the difficulties already faced by federal public defenders, who represent more than half of defendants in the federal court system and have been devastated in recent years by steep budget cuts .

To evaluate whether a prison rule is constitutional, the Supreme Court put forward a test in Turner v. Safley (1987) that considers four factors: 1) whether there is a rational connection between the prison regulation and the governmental interest justifying it, 2) whether alternative means of exercising the right remain available, 3) the impact that accommodating the asserted right will have on guards and other prisoners, and 4) the absence of ready alternatives to the regulation.

Although this post will not endeavor to conduct a full analysis of these factors, it bears mentioning that the government has little unique interest in maintaining the monitoring of emails between attorneys and prisoners. Generally, courts agree that prisoners have a right to confidentiality in their legal mail , insofar as prison staff may search such mail for contraband in the prisoner’s presence, but may not read its contents. These parameters balance the prisoners’ rights and the government’s interest in mitigating risks in its prisons. Unlike unmonitored legal mail, unmonitored emails don’t have the potential to harbor contraband. Although they do pose other risks—for example, the possibility that a deviant attorney sends messages to aid in criminal activity—these are no different from the dangers of physical mail.  

One might argue that the task of reconfiguring TRULINCS to filter out legal emails from monitoring, while technically feasible, shouldn’t be a financial priority for the government. Federal prisons already suffer from overcrowding , and the money spent on electronic messaging could be spent on hiring more corrections officers. Furthermore, some courts have characterized access to TRULINCS as a “special privilege” 1 FTC v. Nat’l Urological Grp., No. 1:04-CV-3294-CAP, 2015 LEXIS 192546 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 19, 2015) —a far cry from a constitutional right.  

In the long term, however, allowing prisoners to communicate confidentially with their legal representation would benefit both incarcerated defendants and the justice system as a whole. The availability of privileged electronic correspondence could cause a reduction in the use of legal mail and unmonitored phone calls, both of which require staff time (and its consequent costs) to facilitate. TRULINCs, in contrast, is funded solely by profits from prisoner purchases , including fees for using the service. Any measure that improves the efficiency of representation for prisoners could also help reduce the United States’ overall incarceration rate, which is still the highest in the world .  

Improving incarcerated people’s access to email, both privileged and otherwise, should not end with revising the TRULINCS policies in federal prisons. Currently, only a handful of state prisons provide email access. Expanded access to email as a tool for communicating with incarcerated clients could help state public defenders manage their immense caseloads . More broadly, providing incarcerated people with opportunities to communicate via modern technology allows them to maintain a support network outside of prison. Ideally, such services—if designed to be financially and practically accessible—can make prison more humane and more conducive to rehabilitation.

Washington State Bar News

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE WASHINGTON STATE BAR ASSOCIATION

Advocating for Clients in Jail

BY ETHAN FRENCHMAN

The goals of a zealous criminal defense are well known: to get one’s client out of jail and achieve the best possible outcome for the case. Attorneys have honed the skills to achieve these goals—creative arguments, effective cross-examination, motions practice, and communicating to a court or jury that one’s client is more than what may have occurred on one of the worst days of their life. 

However, the past year has brought into even greater focus that these goals and the traditional tools of courtroom lawyering used to achieve them are insufficient to address the many problems our clients face when they are incarcerated pretrial. 

Since 2016, Disability Rights Washington 1 1 Disability Rights Washington (DRW) is a private, nonprofit advocacy organization that is federally mandated to provide protection and advocacy services to individuals with disabilities in Washington. DRW’s AVID Program focuses on improving the conditions of incarcerated people with disabilities in our state’s jails and prisons. has monitored nearly all of our state’s 58 city, county, and regional jails. We have found that people in jail are commonly placed in solitary confinement, denied adequate medical and mental health care, and have limited ability to communicate with people outside while awaiting trial. 2 2 www.disabilityrightswa.org/reports/cruel-not-unusual/ .

The reach of these harms is staggering. The average total daily population of all of Washington’s 58 jails is greater than 12,000 people. 3 3 www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/09/18/state-jail-bookings/ . Because jail stays typically last for a period of months or weeks, this large number hides an even darker reality: According to one estimate, no fewer than 98,000 people are booked into Washington jails each year. 4 4   Id. 

As those of us who have practiced in Washington’s criminal courts know all too well, people in jail are typically there because they are too poor to pay bail. They disproportionately identify as a racial minority, and they are more likely to be in need of medical care, social services, or other assistance. The U.S. Department of Justice has estimated that approximately 40 percent of people in jail self-identify as having at least one disability. 5 5 https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/disabilities-among-prison-and-jail-inmates-2011-12 . People in jail are also commonly sick and living with serious underlying medical conditions, 6 6 Laura M. Maruschak, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 210696, Medical Problems of Jail Inmates, 2006. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/mpji.pdf . and have mental health needs. 7 7 KiDeuk Kim, Miriam Becker-Cohen, & Maria Serakos, The Urban Institute, The Processing and Treatment of Mentally Ill Persons in the Criminal Justice System (2015). www.urban.org/research/publication/processing-and-treatment-mentally-ill-persons-criminal-justice-system/view/full_report . When they arrive in jail, they have often gone without treatment for a substantial period of time. 8 8  Doris J. James & Lauren E. Glaze, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 213600, Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates, 2006. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf.  

Unfortunately, jails and the staff that run them have little incentive, on their own, to care for people in custody. Strapped county budgets and the federal Medicaid inmate exclusion policy 9 9 The Social Security Act (42 U.S. Code § 1396d(a)(A)) prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funds from being used to pay for services for people incarcerated in jails and prisons, even if they are eligible for or enrolled in Medicaid during their incarceration. mean that there is little money available for care. Notwithstanding state and federal laws that require jails to provide necessary medical treatment and accommodations, DRW has found through its monitoring that jails in Washington, like jails across the country, commonly fail to provide such care. 10 10 E.g., www.disabilityrightswa.org/reports/prescription-change; www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/04/the-jail-health-care-crisis . And because Washington has no standards or effective oversight bodies to make jails accountable, incarcerated people often have no place to turn for help. 

Given this hard reality, criminal defense attorneys have a critical role to play in helping their clients receive better treatment in jail during the pendency of their criminal case by educating them on how they can advocate for themselves and, in some cases, stepping in to advocate for their clients with jail staff and administrators. Doing so may also help a client be released from jail, if the jail cannot meet their needs, and may improve case outcomes by facilitating the client’s participation in their criminal case and furthering the attorney-client relationship.  

EDUCATE AND ENCOURAGE SELF-ADVOCACY

Most jails in Washington operate complicated internal administrative systems for people in custody to make requests and file complaints about their treatment. These systems are often daunting and inaccessible to people with disabilities. People in jail may also be afraid that speaking up could result in retaliation or make them a target for harassment or violence from other people in custody or from staff. Attorneys can educate and encourage their clients on how they can advocate for themselves in jail. A lawyer who is well-versed in a jail’s administrative processes can provide tailored advice to such clients. 

The simplest advice clients in jail may need to hear is encouragement to speak up and raise an issue with staff. Depending on the facility and the nature of the problem, an informal request to an officer on the individual’s unit, or medical staff during pill line (where individuals wait in line to receive their medications) or a visit to a clinic, may be enough to resolve the client’s issue. Because such requests are not documented, however, they cannot be used to substantiate subsequent allegations of mistreatment. On the other hand, and for the same reason, such informal requests create less risk of retaliation.

Clients can also be encouraged to submit a “kite.” A kite is a fast, formal method for incarcerated people to make written requests. They are also used to share information and ask questions. While some jails have single kites, other jails—for example, King County Correctional Facility—use different kites in a complex array of colors to ensure that the individual’s concern is directed to the appropriate staff. 

If a kite does not resolve the issue, an incarcerated person can typically also submit a formal grievance. A grievance is a written complaint about one’s treatment, conditions in the jail, or staff actions. Grievances are often reviewed by more senior staff or leadership. A client who is interested in writing a grievance should be advised to complain about only a single issue. To the best of their ability they should prepare a short, concise statement that identifies the problem they are having, the steps they have taken to resolve the issue, any witnesses or necessary information, and a proposed remedy. 

As those of us who have practiced in Washington’s criminal courts know all too well, people in jail are typically there because they are too poor to pay bail. 

For example, if a client reports that they are not receiving their psychiatric medication, an attorney can encourage the client to use the kite system to report to jail health staff their diagnosis, the contact information for their provider or pharmacy (if any), any prior prescriptions, their symptoms, and, if they have never received medication before, why they think medication may be beneficial. If this kite is ignored or results in an inadequate response, the attorney can encourage the client to write a grievance describing when they wrote their kite, what information they included in their kite, why the response was inadequate, and the remedy sought (such as psychiatric medication).

Some jails also operate an administrative appeals process through which an incarcerated person can appeal the jail’s response to a formal grievance. Where they exist, appeals are typically reviewed by senior jail leadership under strict timeframes. As with grievances, people in jail should be encouraged to appeal grievance responses with which they disagree, explaining the specific problem with the response and their proposed solution.

Exhausting a jail’s administrative remedies, including grievances and appeals, is typically a prerequisite for filing a lawsuit against a jail regarding a person’s conditions or treatment. Failure to exhaust an available administrative remedy is grounds for dismissal under the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. 42 U.S.C. §1997e(a)). Clients and attorneys should also keep in mind that not all issues—for example, matters beyond the control of the jail, issues affecting other people, and issues for which there is a separate appeals process—can be raised via the jail grievance process. 

WHEN ATTORNEYS SHOULD CONTACT JAILS 

Some clients face emergent and potentially life-threatening issues in jail. Others may not have access to a jail administrative process because they are in solitary confinement, are in the middle of an acute psychiatric crisis, or are unable to use the process for other disability-related reasons. For still others, the jail may simply be refusing to solve a client’s problem after the person has exhausted the jail’s administrative process. For such people, the defense attorney is in the best position to reach out to the jail and advocate for the client’s needs. 

There are several steps that defense attorneys can take to effectively advocate for their client in jail. Sometimes a problem can be resolved with a simple telephone call with jail leadership or medical staff. An attorney may express concerns based on the client’s report of their treatment or conditions and propose a solution or remedy. While discussing the issue over the phone, an attorney should request the contact information, including email address, of the person to whom they are speaking and promptly follow up with an email documenting the conversation. Even if the jail refuses to take further action, such an email could prove to be a valuable record as proof that the jail was notified of a concern. 

Attorneys can also perform short, simple investigations into their client’s conditions at the jail. This typically involves nothing more than having a client sign a release of information for the jail to share medical and custodial records with the attorney. Jail medical records must be provided under the Uniform Health Care Information Act (RCW 70.02), and custodial records must be provided under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) and the City and County Jails Act (RCW 70.48). 

With this information, as well as a client’s own reports, attorneys can follow up with jail medical and custody staff as necessary, track jail efforts to improve their client’s treatment, or document a jail’s failure to provide appropriate care. In such cases, a defense attorney will have collected ample documentation to put before a court in support of a motion for bail modification that may result in the client’s release from jail. 

ISSUES FACING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN JAIL

Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), “no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.” 42 U.S.C. § 12132. Jails are subject to the ADA. Therefore, jails must not exclude people with disabilities from participation in jail programs, services, and activities. Pa. Dep’t of Corr. v. Yeskey , 524 U.S. 206 (1998). That includes the ability to safely use hygiene services such as toilets and showers,  to engage in exercise, and to use the mail, administrative kite and grievance program, and phones. Jails must also provide people with disabilities accommodations to ensure that they can participate in jail programs such as educational classes, religious services, and work assignments on the same basis as other people. See Pierce v. County of Orange , 526 F.3d 1190, 1214 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing Yeskey , 524 U.S. at 209-10 ); 28 C.F.R. § 35.152. 

While jail is difficult for everyone, it is particularly challenging for people with disabilities.

Disability Rights Washington has found that many jails across the state fall short of these ADA requirements. 11 11 E.g., www.disabilityrightswa.org/reports/wasted-time/ . While jail is difficult for everyone, it is particularly challenging for people with disabilities. Jails often fail to provide people with disabilities even basic accommodations to ensure that they can properly communicate their needs to jail staff. Such people may require additional assistance from their defense attorney to receive necessary accommodations. 

For example, jails should provide individualized accommodations to people who are blind or have low vision. These accommodations could include the guided “mapping,” or walk through, of their housing unit so that they can learn their space and not trip or fall. An individual may also require a cane, a lower bunk, and a shower chair. If the individual cannot read printed books, they will require accommodations for their personal reading, court papers, and law library access. Defense attorneys can take steps to ensure that the jail has provided their blind and low-vision clients with audio books, tape recorders, a Braille slate stylus, and other tools they may need. Attorneys may need to provide their low-vision clients with audio recordings of motions, discovery, and other court papers. Jails should provide such individuals with assistance in writing and reading mail, kites, grievances, and law library materials. 

Jails should also provide accommodations to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Some jails offer Video Relay Service, which is a video-enabled translation service for people who use American Sign Language to communicate. Jails must also provide hearing aids and assistive listening devices as necessary. Such tools are critical for people to communicate not only with defense counsel, but jail staff, medical providers, and the court. 

Similarly, individuals with intellectual disabilities that impact their cognitive functioning and skills may be unable to use phones or jail kite and grievance systems. For such individuals, it is crucial that defense attorneys communicate with jails on their client’s behalf to explain their needs and advocate for them to receive appropriate accommodations, such as assistance in using phones and administrative processes. 

UNIQUE PROBLEMS FOR TRANSGENDER PEOPLE IN JAIL

Transgender people face many of the same challenges as other people in jail, but often face additional and serious risks of harm due to prejudice or ignorance. Studies have shown that transgender people in correctional settings are at extraordinarily high risk for sexual abuse, assault, and self-harm. 12 12   See e.g., https://cpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/sites.uci.edu/dist/0/1149/files/2013/06/BulletinVol2Issue2.pdf .

Due to these risks, the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and its implementing regulations require that transgender people be housed in correctional facilitates, including jails, according to the results of an individualized assessment of the person’s safety that includes input from the person. 13 13 Prison Rape Elimination Act (2012), www.prearesourcecenter.org/sites/default/files/content/prisonsandjailsfinalstandards_0.pdf . Jails violate federal law if they mechanically house transgender people according to their sex assigned at birth without assessment of their individual safety or medical needs. 

Clients know that an attorney who fights for them with the jail will fight for them in their case, regardless of the outcome.

Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria, which is distress caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and their sex assigned at birth. In 2019, the Ninth Circuit made clear that correctional facilities must provide medically necessary care for gender dysphoria in Edmo v. Corizon, Inc. , 935 F.3d 757 (9th Cir. 2019). Many transgender people in the community are receiving feminizing or masculinizing hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which is a medically necessary intervention for gender dysphoria. Even brief interruptions to HRT can cause patients serious physical and mental health consequences. If a defense attorney knows that a transgender client is not receiving their HRT prescription, they should take steps to have the client’s doctor or pharmacy contact the jail and inform the jail of its legal obligations to provide gender-affirming care.

Finally, it is important for transgender people in jail to be assigned the proper name and gender marker. The person’s incarcerated name and gender marker will be used not only to identify the person in the jail, but in state prison if they are transferred. Defense attorneys are in a good position to assist transgender clients by providing documents to a jail of a person’s legal name change order from a county auditor’s office and government identification with their current gender marker. In addition, defense attorneys can take steps to have the criminal case caption amended so that the client’s case name reflects their current legal name. Steps like these can ensure that transgender clients are able to live with dignity and without the fear of having their transgender identity needlessly disclosed due to inaccurate and out-of-date jail and court paperwork that will follow the client for the rest of their life.

Investing the relatively small amount of time necessary to pursue the steps discussed in this article could have enormous benefits, both for the client and for the attorney-client relationship. For many clients, resolving an emergent medical or mental health issue can be lifesaving. For others, finding a solution to such issues, or a disability accommodation, is necessary to their participation in their own defense. Clients may need their attorney’s help to access treatment for an acute mental illness or to receive their court paperwork in an accessible format so they can get down to the work of assisting their attorney. Even documenting that a jail has failed to meet a client’s needs could result in an effective bail modification argument and the client’s release from pretrial detention. Advocating for a client’s treatment in jail will also build trust and strengthen the attorney client-relationship, improving the quality of communication and case outcomes. I have found that clients know that an attorney who fights for them with the jail will fight for them in their case, regardless of the outcome. 

Ethan Frenchman is an attorney with Disability Rights Washington’s AVID Program, where he litigates cases that protect the rights of people who are incarcerated in Washington’s jails and prisons. He has also worked as a trial and appellate public defender and taught at the University of Maryland School of Law and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 

1. Disability Rights Washington (DRW) is a private, nonprofit advocacy organization that is federally mandated to provide protection and advocacy services to individuals with disabilities in Washington. DRW’s AVID Program focuses on improving the conditions of incarcerated people with disabilities in our state’s jails and prisons. 

2. www.disabilityrightswa.org/reports/cruel-not-unusual/ .

3. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/09/18/state-jail-bookings/ .

4. Id. 

5. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/disabilities-among-prison-and-jail-inmates-2011-12 .

6. Laura M. Maruschak, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 210696, Medical Problems of Jail Inmates, 2006. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/mpji.pdf . 

7. KiDeuk Kim, Miriam Becker-Cohen, & Maria Serakos, The Urban Institute, The Processing and Treatment of Mentally Ill Persons in the Criminal Justice System (2015). www.urban.org/research/publication/processing-and-treatment-mentally-ill-persons-criminal-justice-system/view/full_report . 

8. Doris J. James & Lauren E. Glaze, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 213600, Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates, 2006. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf . 

9. The Social Security Act (42 U.S. Code § 1396d(a)(A)) prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funds from being used to pay for services for people incarcerated in jails and prisons, even if they are eligible for or enrolled in Medicaid during their incarceration. 

10. E.g., www.disabilityrightswa.org/reports/prescription-change ; www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/04/the-jail-health-care-crisis .

11. E.g., www.disabilityrightswa.org/reports/wasted-time/ .

12. See e.g., https://cpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/sites.uci.edu/dist/0/1149/files/2013/06/BulletinVol2Issue2.pdf .

13. Prison Rape Elimination Act (2012), www.prearesourcecenter.org/sites/default/files/content/prisonsandjailsfinalstandards_0.pdf .

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Kremlin Critic Navalny Sent To Prison On Old Conviction

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears in the Moscow City Court in Moscow on Tuesday. Moscow City Court via AP hide caption

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears in the Moscow City Court in Moscow on Tuesday.

Updated at 5:06 p.m. ET

A Moscow judge ruled Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny must go to prison for violating the terms of a 2014 conviction. Navalny has called the old conviction politically motivated.

Police have detained more than 900 people who protested his sentencing, according to Reuters on Tuesday.

Prosecutors pushed to turn Navalny's 3.5-year suspended sentence into actual prison time, which the judge accepted, even though the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2017 that Navalny had been tried unfairly.

Navalny previously spent time under house arrest for that fraud conviction. According to Russian media, that time will be taken into account, meaning Navalny is expected to spend two years and eight months in prison.

Navalny was arrested on Jan. 17 immediately after returning to Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poison attack with a rare nerve agent that he blames on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian authorities, who have denied any involvement in the August poisoning, pressured Navalny to remain in exile.

The prison service claimed Navalny had violated the terms of his 2014 parole by not checking in while he was undergoing treatment in Germany.

Navalny, who was detained at Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina prison, was led into the glass defendant's box that is typical for Russian courtrooms. Reporters were allowed to take pictures only before the hearing began, and Navalny, wearing a blue hoodie, could be seen communicating with his wife, Yuliya, and his lawyers.

"I very much hope that people won't see this trial as a signal that they should be more afraid. It's not a show of strength but a show of weakness," Navalny told the court, according to a transcript by the news site Meduza. "They can't put millions and hundreds of thousands in jail."

"I salute all the honest people all over the country who are not afraid and take to the streets," he said.

Outside the court, riot police in full battle gear had secured a wide perimeter. Independent news outlets such as TV Rain broadcast live coverage of a passersby being arrested and bundled into police trucks.

Police used similar tactics at a protest in Moscow on Sunday, arresting random demonstrators as they made their way through the city on a march demanding Navalny's release. Protests have broken out in dozens of Russian cities, from Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.

More than 5,600 people were detained in 90 cities during protests Sunday, according to the monitoring group OVD-Info , which tracks political persecution in Russia. In Moscow, where almost 1,900 people were arrested, there was not enough space in city jails and detainees were forced to sit for hours in crowded buses without food or water, OVD-Info reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is "deeply concerned" by the court's decision. "We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny, as well as the hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly," he added in a statement.

"The Kremlin is waging a war on the human rights of people in Russia, stifling protesters' calls for freedom and change," Amnesty International said in a statement before the hearing. "This is a desperate attempt to silence criticism, and it needs to stop." Amnesty has recognized Navalny as a "prisoner of conscience."

Russia is facing new calls for sanctions among European Union countries, and the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, is expected to bring up Navalny's arrest on his official visit to Moscow later this week. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation has called on the Biden administration to impose sanctions on 35 individuals in Putin's inner circle.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Navalny's case is exclusively a domestic matter and that Russia will not take instructions from foreign governments. The Kremlin has suggested that Navalny works for U.S. intelligence and has branded the Anti-Corruption Foundation a "foreign agent."

Peskov told reporters that Putin was not following Navalny's hearing and was meeting with educators Tuesday.

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Russian authorities detain lawyers for Alexei Navalny as pressure mounts on political prisoners

FILE Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 2nd left, and his lawyers Alexander Fedulov, left, Olga Mikhailova, right, and Vadim Kobzev, second right, are seen on a TV screen standing among his lawyers, as he appears in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, during a hearing in the colony, in Melekhovo, Vladimir region, about 260 kilometers (163 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia, on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 searched the homes of three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and detained one of them, the politician’s allies said. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE In this photo taken from a footage provided by the Babuskinsky District Court Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center smiles as he talks with his lawyers Olga Mikhailova, left, and Vadim Kobzev during a hearing on his charges for defamation in the Babuskinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia. Russian authorities on Friday searched the homes of three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and detained one of them, the politician’s allies said. (Babuskinsky District Court Press Service via AP, File)

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyer Vadim Kobzev stands in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyer Vadim Kobzev stands behind a glass in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyer Igor Sergunin sits in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyer Igor Sergunin takes a document siting in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyer Alexei Liptser stands in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyer Alexei Liptser, right, stands in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyer Igor Sergunin, center, sits in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

FILE - Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza gestures standing in a glass cage in a courtroom during announcement of the verdict on appeal at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, on July 31, 2023. Kara-Murza, 42, was convicted of treason for publicly denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine and sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year. His social media posts are regularly updated with messages from behind bars, and his columns frequently appear in Western media. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov, File)

FILE - Alexei Gorinov holds a sign “I am against the war” standing in a cage during hearing in the courtroom in Moscow, Russia, on June 21, 2022. Gorinov, 62, was convicted of “spreading false information” about the army in July 2022 over antiwar remarks made at a council session and sentenced to seven years in prison. He’s been in a “punishment cell” repeatedly since early September in IK-2, a penal colony in the Vladimir region east of Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Andrei Pivovarov, former head of the Open Russia movement, gestures during a court session in Krasnodar, Russia, on June 2, 2021. Pivovarov, another imprisoned high-profile opposition figure, has been in isolation since January. Pivovarov, 42, was sentenced to four years in prison on the charges of engaging with an “undesirable” organization -— a label slapped on the pro-democracy group he headed, Open Russia, shortly before his arrest. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Sasha Skochilenko, a 32-year-old artist and musician, stands in a defendant’s cage in a courtroom during a hearing in the Vasileostrovsky district court in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 13, 2022. Skochilenko was arrested in April 2022 on charges of spreading false information about the army after replacing supermarket price tags with antiwar slogans to protest the invasion, Skochilenko is on trial, with almost daily court hearings that often prevent her from getting meals. (AP Photo, File)

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TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, his allies said, a step that comes amid increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s critics.

The move was an attempt to “completely isolate Navalny,” his ally Ivan Zhdanov said on social media. Navalny, 47, has been behind bars since January 2021, serving a 19-year prison sentence but has been able to get messages out regularly and keep up with the news.

The raids targeting Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser are part of a criminal case on charges of participating in an extremist group, Zhdanov said. All three were detained after the search, apparently as suspects in the case, Navalny’s team said on Telegram. All three later in the day appeared in court and were ordered to pre-trial detention pending investigation and trial.

Independent Russian media also reported a raid at a law firm that employs another of Navalny’s lawyers, Olga Mikhailova. According to reports, she is currently not in Russia.

Navalny, currently in Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, is due to be transferred to a “special security” penal colony, a facility with the highest security level in the Russian penitentiary system, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told The Associated Press.

“If he won’t have access to lawyers, he will end up in complete isolation, the kind no one can really even imagine,” she said.

If his lawyers end up in jail, Navalny will be deprived not only of legal representation but also of his “only connection” to the world outside of prison, Yarmysh said:

“Letters go through poorly and are being censored,” she said. With Navalny being held in a special punitive facility in the colony, he is not allowed any phone calls and hardly any visits from anyone but his lawyers, she said, “and now it means he will be deprived of this, as well.”

For many political prisoners in Russia, regular visits from lawyers — especially in remote regions — are a lifeline that allows them to keep their loved ones informed about their well-being, as well as report and push back against abuse by prison officials.

Navalny is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, campaigning against official corruption and organizing major anti-Kremlin protests. He 2021 arrest came upon his return to Moscow from Germany where he recuperated from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He has since been handed three prison terms, most recently on the charges of extremism, and spent months in isolation facilities in the prison over various minor infractions prison officials accused him of.

Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and a vast network of regional offices were outlawed that same year as extremist groups, a step that exposed anyone involved with them to prosecution.

Navalny has previously rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life.

Kobzev was due in court Friday, along with Navalny, for a hearing on two lawsuits the opposition leader had filed against the penal colony where he’s being held. Navalny said at the hearing, which was later adjourned until November, that the case against his lawyers is indicative “of the state of rule of law in Russia.”

“Just like in Soviet times, not only political activists are being prosecuted and turned into political prisoners, but their lawyers, too,” he said.

Increasing isolation is something other political prisoners are facing, as well. Last month, imprisoned opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was transferred to a penal colony in Siberia and placed in a tiny “punishment cell,” his lawyers said.

Kara-Murza, 42, was convicted of treason for publicly denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine and sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year. His social media posts are regularly updated with messages from behind bars, and his columns frequently appear in Western media.

But in a penal colony in the Siberian city of Omsk, Kara-Murza is “alone in a small cell, where there’s only a wash basin, a latrine, a chair and a table, and a bed that is strapped to the wall for the entire day,” his lawyer Maria Eismont wrote in a Facebook post last week.

“He is allowed to have only soap, toilet paper, a toothbrush and toothpaste, slippers, one book. Letters, a pen, paper and case files are given to him for only an hour and a half a day. There’s an hour-long walk in the prison yard, where he walks alone as well. The rest of the time he can sit on an uncomfortable chair or pace the cell,” Eismont wrote.

Alexei Gorinov , a former member of a Moscow municipal council, is serving his sentence in similar conditions. Gorinov, 62, was convicted of “spreading false information” about the army in July 2022 over antiwar remarks made at a council session and sentenced to seven years in prison. He’s been in a “punishment cell” repeatedly since early September in IK-2, a penal colony in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.

Last week, Gorinov was transferred to a pre-trial detention center in Vladimir after a new criminal probe was launched against him on charges of condoning terrorism, according to his Telegram page. The post didn’t clarify the accusations against Gorinov. In the detention center, he was once again placed in an unheated “punishment cell,” and he will stay there until Oct. 25, the post said.

Andrei Pivovarov , another imprisoned high-profile opposition figure, has been in isolation since January. Pivovarov, 42, was sentenced to four years in prison on the charges of engaging with an “undesirable” organization -— a label slapped on the pro-democracy group he headed, Open Russia, shortly before his arrest.

Pivovarov is serving his sentence at IK-7 in the Karelia region of northern Russia and is being held in a “restricted housing unit” in a single cell, his wife Tatyana Usmanova told AP. She has only seen him once since his arrest in May 2021: they were married in July 2023 and allowed a three-day visit.

Pivovarov is not allowed to have phone calls and only gets about two hours a day for writing letters, which go through prison censors to get mailed, so if not for the lawyers visiting him regularly, Usmanova says she would have “really long gaps between those letters during which I wouldn’t at all know whether he’s OK or not OK, healthy or not healthy, alive or not.”

Jailed artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko , meanwhile, faces a different kind of pressure. Arrested in April 2022 on charges of spreading false information about the army after replacing supermarket price tags with antiwar slogans to protest the invasion, Skochilenko is on trial, with almost daily court hearings that often prevent her from getting meals.

At a hearing last month, the judge called an ambulance to the courthouse after Skochilenko fell ill, telling the court it was her second day without any food. The 33-year-old suffers from several health problems, including a congenital heart defect, bipolar disorder and celiac disease, requiring a gluten-free diet.

At another hearing earlier this week Skochilenko burst into tears after the judge rejected a request for a break so that she could eat or at least use the bathroom, her partner Sofya Subbotina recalled in an interview with AP.

“She’s great, she’s been holding up really well these past year and a half. But lately it’s been really hard on her,” Subbotina said. “A psychiatrist visited her (in jail) ... Right now she’s suffering from a depressive episode of moderate severity. What’s happening in court is abuse, and we can’t change it, lawyers can’t change it.”