Lawyers slam jail for opening client mail
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department is opening attorneys’ letters meant for jailed clients, prompting outcries from defense lawyers who argue the information is privileged and jailers don’t follow legal procedures.
Elizabeth Lutton, a legal adviser for the Dallas County Sheriff ’s Department, told the Dallas County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association last week employees open all letters, including from attorneys, to look for contraband, particularly as jails nationwide “are experiencing a security issue with paper correspondence,” according to a letter obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
Lutton wrote “it is true that incoming inmate privileged mail from attorneys is opened and inspected,” but said that’s only done in the presence of the inmate and inspection is “limited to locating contraband or illegal items.”
But four North Texas defense attorneys said their jailed clients reported they weren’t present when the letters were opened. The lawyers said other clients told them letters were scanned and photocopied, with the original thrown in the trash, and other correspondences were delivered to inmates electronically with no word on what happened with the original.
The attorneys expressed concern that someone other than their clients could read the letters, which often discuss legal strategy and a person’s guilt or innocence. Doing so, they said, would violate their clients’ constitutional rights. The association demanded answers from the sheriff’s department and threatened to take the matter to court.
“We wanna know what’s going on,” said Deandra Grant, president of the association. “What we know is happening is not in compliance with the law. And we don’t want this to evolve into litigation, but we’re not just gonna sit back and let county officials violate our clients’ constitutional rights.”
It is unclear whether the sheriff’s department found contraband in any letters, including those from attorneys.
The department issued a statement Monday saying employees copy and shred the letters in front of inmates to “keep chemical laced envelopes and letters out of the hands of the inmates.” It added “no letters are opened outside of the inmate’s presence.”
The sheriff’s department did not address questions including how long jailers have opened attorney letters, whether there was an internal policy change and what prompted searches for contraband in attorney letters.
In the letter to the association, Lutton said “no attorney mail is being placed onto electronic tablets” and outgoing mail from the inmate to the attorney “is not opened at all.” She said officers who handle the mail are trained in a process approved by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Commissioner J.J. Koch said in an email “the bottom line is that multiple defense attorneys are stating that they are having their mail to clients either lost or improperly screened. This is a constitutional issue.”
Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas, said mail between attorneys and their clients is privileged, and infringing on that communication violates incarcerated peoples’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
Deitch called the allegations “problematic.”
“It makes it impossible for attorneys to effectively represent their clients if they cannot have that confidential communication with them,” she said.
Grant said defense lawyers became aware of the issue about a month ago and asked more clients in the jail how they received attorneys’ letters. The attorneys heard different answers, Grant said.
Attorney Johnny Lanzillo said his client told him he had a hard time reading a form Lanzillo sent because it wasn’t copied well. Another client told him one of Lanzillo’s letters was copied and the original was thrown in the trash, he said.
“If they’re just throwing a letter that they think may have drugs on it in the trash, well, that’s easily accessible by anybody,” Lanzillo said. “So they’re not even actually destroying it.”
Lanzillo said the jailers previously gave the inmates attorneys’ letters directly without opening them. He said the letters can contain statements regarding the client’s guilt or innocence and trial strategies.
Defense attorney Julie Lesser said none of her clients have told her that her letters were shredded after a copy was made. One client told her the jailers scanned her letter and then provided the client a copy.
“Well, where did the scan go?” she said. “I mean, that could have been forwarded straight to the DA’s office.”