§25-1-17 Monitoring of inmate telephone calls; procedures and restrictions; calls to or from attorneys excepted. - West Virginia Statutes

§25-1-17. Monitoring of inmate telephone calls; procedures and restrictions; calls to or from attorneys excepted.
(a) The Commissioner of Corrections or his or her designee is authorized to monitor, intercept, record and disclose telephone calls to or from adult inmates of state correctional institutions in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) All adult inmates of state correctional institutions shall be notified in writing that their telephone conversations may be monitored, intercepted, recorded and disclosed;

(2) Only the commissioner, warden, administrator or their designee shall have access to recordings of inmates' telephone calls unless disclosed pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection;

(3) Notice shall be prominently placed on or immediately near every telephone that may be monitored;

(4) The contents of inmates' telephone calls may be disclosed to an appropriate law-enforcement agency pursuant to an order of a court or administrative tribunal when disclosure is necessary for the investigation, prevention or prosecution of a crime or to safeguard the orderly operation of the correctional institution. Disclosure may be made in civil or administrative proceedings pursuant to an order of a court or an administrative tribunal when the disclosure is:

(A) Necessary to safeguard and protect the orderly operation of the correctional institution; or

(B) Necessary to protect persons from physical harm or the threat of physical harm;

(5) All recordings of telephone calls shall be retained for at least three years and maintained and destroyed in accordance with the record retention policy of the Division of Corrections adopted pursuant to section one, article eight, chapter five-a of this code, et seq.; or

(6) To safeguard the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege, a telephone line that is not monitored shall be made available for telephone calls to or from an attorney. These calls shall not be monitored, intercepted, recorded or disclosed in any matter.

(b) The commissioner shall propose legislative rules in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to effectuate the provisions of this section.

(c) The provisions of this section shall apply only to those persons serving a sentence of incarceration in the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections.