Should Congress allow digital communication confidentiality between attorneys and incarcerated individuals?

Civil Rights Crime and Law Enforcement (e.g., Gun Laws)
To regulate monitoring of electronic communications between an incarcerated person in a Bureau of Prisons facility (H.R. 546)
This bill has Passed the House of Representatives
Bill Summary

This bill would prohibit the Department of Justice from monitoring privileged electronic communication between incarcerated individuals and their attorneys. The Attorney General would create a program to forbid the monitoring of privileged digital communication in the Bureau of Prison’s email system. This program allows for the retention of electronic communication until an incarcerated individual is released. The bill would extend attorney-client privilege to electronic communication such as emails and the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System. Court ordered warrants approved by the US Attorney or Assistant Attorney General would allow access to privileged electronic communication. If privileged electronic communication is accessed in violation of this act, it can be suppressed upon a motion by the defendant. Sponsor: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat, New York, District 8)
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Opponents say

• "We don't want to read attorney-client communications. We are not doing this for some strategic advantage. Nobody ever intended the system to be confidential. When you log in to the prison email system, there's a clear warning that the email will be monitored. So defense lawyers should act accordingly." Source: James McGovern (former chief of the criminal division at the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn)

Proponents say

• "Most fair-minded individuals understand that our system of justice requires a dynamic where people have access to the effective assistance of counsel necessary to adequately defend themselves. This is not just common sense—it is a constitutionally-protected right. The ability to send and receive confidential electronic communications has never been more important now that email has become the safest and most efficient way for attorneys and their incarcerated clients to communicate." Source: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat, New York, District 8)
• "Attorney-client privilege is a pivotal part of our legal system because it helps ensure fairness. Emails between those incarcerated and their attorneys should fall under attorney-client protections, but currently that’s not the case." Source: Former Rep. Doug Collins (Republican, Georgia, District 9)
• "Generally speaking, out-of-custody defendants can go to their attorneys’ offices, speak with them freely on the phone, or write letters back-and-forth with their attorneys without fear of interference. To an extent, in-custody defendants also have these protections. But these same protections do not apply to email communications for the nearly 150,000 individuals currently in BOP [Bureau of Prisons] custody, many of whom are in pretrial detention and have not been convicted of any crime." Source: Rep. Jerry Nadler (Democrat, New York, District 10)
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