Jail Calls are Risky
by King Law
When someone is held in jail they are given access to a phone, but there is a catch: the line is being recorded. Of course, keeping in contact with family and other loved ones is important. Jail can be a lonely place and separation from family can be unbearable. However, whenever a phone call is made there is risk involved. Here’s what you should know about jail calls in the event you should ever need to make one.
Assume the Prosecutor is listening to your jail calls.
If the Prosecutor is not listening, their investigator or intern might be. Assume they are listening. Many DA’s Office have a software that allows them to quickly access all of your calls except the ones with your criminal defense attorney.
What are they listening for?
Any information they can gather. This may include a confession or an admission to a small part of an alleged crime. For example, there can be a lot of value to a Prosecutor hearing someone say “I did it” or even “I was there, but I didn’t do it”. Even in the second scenario the Prosecutor may now have strong evidence to prove the accused person was at the location the alleged crime occurred. There may be value in anything you say related to the case. Some examples of things that would be valuable for a Prosecutor to know are:
- what type of deal you would be willing to accept
- whether you are handling jail time well under the circumstances or
- whether you are desperate to plea and either get out of custody or plea because the unknown is weighing too heavily on you.
Any information gathered from the call can be valuable to the Prosecutor and may be counter-productive to your best outcome.
What can you do to protect yourself or someone you know.
- Be extra careful in the days leading up to Court or after Court – prosecutors focus their listening attention on these calls.
- Be extra careful after meeting with your lawyer – your conversation with your lawyer is private and if you talk about that conversation with someone else after, then it is not private.
- Visit in-person rather than call.
- Limit the conversation to life in general and not conversation about the case.
- Remind your loved one “we are being recorded” if the case comes up.
- Work with your defense attorney to take steps to obtain release.
Contact Our Rochester Criminal Lawyer
If you are potentially going to be on either end of jail call it’s important that you know what you can and cannot talk about. Our Rochster criminal lawyer can assist you and provide advice regarding how to conduct your phone calls and keep you and your loved ones safe. If you find yourself in need of legal assistance, contact our criminal defense attorney today.
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