WILL MICHIGAN BE THE FIRST STATE TO ENACT POLICIES, RULES OR LAWS, THAT PROTECT THE LIMITED PRIVACY PRISONERS HAVE IN THEIR PERSONS AND COMMUNICATIONS?
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Federal law protects prisoners medical records from being exposed to the public or any unauthorized person. However, prisoners are subject to various surveillance technologies, communication screenings, and searches. The vast majority of all of these legal privacy intrusions, contain no or little relevant information that constitutes violations of policies or laws. However, the information gained is left unprotected. For instance, a staff member reads a letter from or to a prisoner's loved one in accordance with policy, listens to a phone call, or reads a prisoners secure email. The staff find no violations of policy or law during their legal intrusions. Perhaps, a staff member searches a prisoner's cell and learns things about the prisoner, which are not violations of policy or law. Should this information be communicated with other staff, gossiped about, or released to the public? Some people would say that there would be no relevant reason to disclose or communicate this information to anyone, outside of an investigative process. Certainly, most people, would believe that rule infractions and criminal activity, would not have any privacy protections. The historical rule of thumb has been, that if the information gleaned during a search, does not violate the law or interfere with the good order and discipline of the facility, that information should remain private and held confidential by the staff outside of an investigative process. What policies, rules and laws protect prisoners from the exposure of their limited privacy, when that information does not violate any policy or law, and does not interfere with the good order and discipline of the facility? Should a prisoners limited privacy be protected? This is something for public discussion. |
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