Monitoring inmates' calls is now possible

Calls between inmates and their attorneys will not be monitored, an official said.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa. -- For the first time, Mercer County Jail officials have the capacity to monitor outgoing phone calls by inmates.
District Attorney James Epstein, who is president of the Mercer County Prison Board, told members when they met Monday that the recently opened jail's phone system makes it possible to record the phone conversations.
Warden Jeff Gill said this capacity could be an important tool, for example, if an escape is being planned. The phone system at the old jail was 10 or 15 years old and did not have the recording capacity which many jails have today, he said.
Epstein said he will ask county Solicitor Mark Longietti to research the federal Wiretap Act to determine the potential civil liability of letting third parties access tapes of conversations. The law allows the warden and his executive staff to listen to tapes of conversations, but there is a question of who else may legally be given access.
Epstein said that calls between inmates and their attorneys will not be monitored. Gill said inmates wanting to make calls to their attorneys will probably be allowed to use the counselor's phone, which is not on the recording system.
Warnings posted
In the meantime, warnings have been posted to inform inmates that their conversations could be monitored, and a recorded warning also is played at the beginning of phone conversations.
Also Monday, Sheriff William Romine said he will look into the possibility of making an arrangement with federal authorities so the jail could accept federal prisoners. Currently, the Lawrence County Jail accepts federal prisoners, such as illegal aliens apprehended on Interstates 79 and 80, he said. The federal government pays county jails to house such prisoners, and that could help offset the costs of the new jail, he added.
Gill also reported inmate behavior has improved since the recent move to the new jail. He said in the old facility, because of space limitations inmates were locked down 22 hours per day so it was hard to impose effective discipline. But now, he said, they are out of their cells most of the day and can be transferred to a disciplinary block for infractions.
"It makes a difference," he said.
The prison board also held its annual re-organization Monday, re-electing Epstein president, an office he has held since 1995. County Controller Tom Amundsen was elected vice-president and Romine, secretary.