<html>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Crazy Atheist Libertarian</TITLE>
<meta name="keywords" content="crazy, atheist, libertarian,
Crazy Atheist Libertarian, humanist, news, government, religion, crime, police">
</HEAD>
<body background="nevada.gif">
<pre>
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 04:16:03 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
From: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
Subject: Eavesdropping on US Inmate-Attorney Conversations Begins
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
<p>
<<a href="http://www.aclu.org/safeandfree/>">http://www.aclu.org/safeandfree/></a>
<p>
Power Grab Allows Government Eavesdropping on Inmate-Attorney Conversations
<p>
<p>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 9, 2001
<p>
WASHINGTON - Calling it an unprecedented power grab completely at
odds with the Constitution, the American Civil Liberties Union today
said it vehemently opposes the new Bureau of Prisons regulation
allowing the government to listen in on conversations between prison
inmates and their legal counsel.
<p>
"The right to an effective and vigorous defense is an absolute," said
Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington National Office.
"This is a terrifying precedent - it threatens to negate the keystone
of our system of checks and balances, the right to a competent legal
defense."
<p>
The regulation removes all judicial review from the eavesdropping,
allowing the government to listen in any time the Attorney General
believes there exists "reasonable suspicion" that a conversation
between an inmate and counsel has any connection to "terrorist
activity." Murphy said that this would discourage inmates from having
full and open conversations with their own defense attorneys about
the facts of the case, information which is a prerequisite for good
legal advice.
<p>
The new regulation appeared in the Federal Register on October 31
along with a number of other changes in the current rules governing
the Bureau of Prisons.
<p>
Even though the Department of Justice claims to protect inmates'
Sixth Amendment right to assistance of counsel in this new regulation
by establishing a "firewall" within the department to prevent
prosecutors from getting their hands on privileged information,
Murphy questioned the department's trustworthiness. She pointed out
that the Department of Justice just successfully petitioned Congress
to remove the firewall between intelligence and criminal
investigations, a key check on law enforcement power.
<p>
Ironically, the new regulations come at the same time as the
Administration is seeking to repeal the McDade-Murtha Law, a measure
that was passed in 1996 in response to questions of professional
misconduct by government attorneys. Its repeal would allow federal
prosecutors to follow a far more lax set of ethical standards than
defense attorneys.
<p>
Civil liberties advocates also fear that the regulation could provide
innocent inmates a disincentive to volunteer information to their
defense counsel that could potentially clear their name.
<p>
"If an suspect's sole alibi is potentially damaging, but unrelated to
the alleged crime, he or she will obviously be hesitant to whisper
this little secret directly in the government's ear," Murphy said.
"Each and every person in this country must be given the
constitutional right to private consultation with legal counsel."
<p>
<p>
Last Updated: 11-09-01
<p>
<hr>
Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues
Send a blank message to: <a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a> with the words subscribe FA
on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week)
Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/</a>
<hr>
<p>
</pre>
<hr>
Visit the <a href="http://www.geocities.com/crazy_atheist">Crazy Atheist Libertarian</a>
<br>
Check out <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/atheists_united_arizona">Atheists United - Arizona</A>
<br>
Visit my atheist friends at <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/hashish_arizona">Heritics, Atheists, Skeptics, Humanists, Infidels, and Secular Humanists - Arizona</A>
<br>
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cathedral/8650/">Arizona Secular Humanists</A>
<br>
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/ash_cooked_books">Paul Putz Cooks the Arizona Secular Humanist's Check Book</A>
<br>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/government_crimes">News about crimes commited by the police and government</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/religion_crimes">News about crimes commited by religious leaders and beleivers</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/news_crazy_government">Some strange but true news about the government</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/news_crazy_religion">Some strange but real news about religion</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/news_weird_wacky">Interesting, funny but otherwise useless news!</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/libertarian_talk">Libertarians talk about freedom</a>
</html>
Visit the Crazy Atheist Libertarian
Check out Atheists United - Arizona
Visit my atheist friends at Heritics, Atheists, Skeptics, Humanists, Infidels, and Secular Humanists - Arizona
Arizona Secular Humanists
Paul Putz Cooks the Arizona Secular Humanist's Check Book
News about crimes commited by the police and government
News about crimes commited by religious leaders and beleivers
Some strange but true news about the government
Some strange but real news about religion
Interesting, funny but otherwise useless news!
Libertarians talk about freedom