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Millions of NYC jail call recording stored in high-tech system, violating civil liberties, lawsuit says

Graham Rayman, New York Daily News on

Published in News & Features

“We have not, and will never, sell data generated by our public-safety software or services,” she said.

Plaintiff Samiyah De Freitas, 25, of Manhattan said she lent her name to the lawsuit because she said she was troubled that chats with her often-incarcerated aunt had been recorded since De Freitas was a teenager.

“It just feels very invasive,” said De Freitas, a health care worker who has never been in jail. “Knowing every word we shared, they are all just sitting somewhere. It feels like our right to privacy doesn’t matter.”

The court action comes three years after the Daily News broke the story that hundreds of confidential attorney-client calls out of Rikers had been improperly recorded. The new lawsuit claims that is just a snapshot of broader civil liberties violations taking place.

A previously jailed plaintiff, Marcus Reid, 30, had 43 of his lawyer calls improperly recorded in May and June 2020 alone and given to prosecutors, the suit alleges. “I became even more uncomfortable speaking on the phone,” Reid said.

A May 2023 report by the city Department of Investigation on the 2021 disclosures fell short of holding anyone accountable, the lawsuit alleges. A DOI spokeswoman declined comment.

 

Before 2008, correction officials had to show a judge they suspected a crime was taking place and get a warrant to listen to calls. Then in 2007, the Board of Correction passed a new one-paragraph rule allowing “with appropriate procedures” calls to be “listened to or monitored” when “legally sufficient notice” is given to those in jail. Calls involving lawyers, clergy, doctors and investigative agencies were exempt from monitoring.

The key phrase, “legally sufficient notice,” took the form of a recording heard at the start of calls and warning signs posted in the jails.

The rule said nothing about recording or storing the monitored calls, nor did it anticipate the evolution of the technology, advocates for suspects say.

In 2013, the Correction Department signed a contract with Securus Technologies, which has software called NextGen SCP that can identify specific voices using a “voice print.” A second program called WordAlert makes conversations searchable by key word. A third program called “Threads” allows the data collected from calls to be shared with law enforcement agencies nationwide, the lawsuit alleges.

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