Policy Text
Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff
Inmate Telephone Monitoring
Surveillance Use Policy
Santa Clara County
SherifPs Office
Custody Bureau
Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff Custody Bureau
Surveillance Use Policy - Inmate Telephone MonitoringPage 1 of6
October 2019
1. Purpose
The Inmate Telephone Monitoring System (Legacy Long Distance Int'l Inc (Legacy))
records inmate telephone conversations, which are monitored to assess safety and security
issues within jail facilities. This system shall be used to help the Sherifls Office assess risk
to the Correctional Facilities based on information shared hy inmates during calls that
indicate security violations of inmates, introduction of contraband. escape plans. intentions to
attack staff or others, attempts to direct or control criminal behavior inside of the facility, or
plans to adversely impact the jail's operation.
2. Authorized and Prohibited Uses
Signs shall be prominently posted on site in inmate phone areas advising inmates that their
telephone conversations are being monitored or recorded.
A.Authorized uses for the Inmate Telephone Monitoring System shall include only
the following:
1. Housing Unit/ Intake Bookine Phones
a. Listening to or monitoring in-progress phone calls
b. Reviewing recorded phone calls
c. Evidence collection
d. Other law enforcement, custody, or first responder uses not prohibited by
law
2. Non-Contact Visiting Phones
a. Listening to or monitoring in-progress phone calls
b. Reviewing recorded phone calls
c. Evidence collection
d. Other law enforcement, custody, or first responder uses not prohibited by
law
A11 uses not authorized above shall be prohibited. The Inmate Telephone
Monitoring System shall not be used for personal or non-official purposes. It shall
be used in a legal manner, and shall not be used to harass, intimidate, or
discriminate against any individual or group.
C.The Sheriff s Office shall not listen to or record communication known by the
listener or recorder to be privileged. Privileged communication shall be defined
as attomey-client communication, physician-patient communication, and clergy-
penitent communication. Any inadvertent recording of a privilegedB
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October 2019
communication shall be deleted upon discovery and if the recording has been
copied, all copies shall be deleted immediately.
If a phone call is made to the Adult Custody Office of the Ombuds (ACOO),
formerly known as the Jail Observer Program, the call shall not be listened to or
recorded.D
A.3. Data Collection
4. Data AccessIt shall be permissible for the following data to be obtained through the inmate
telephone monitoring system:
1. Housing Unit/Intake Bookine Phones
a. Audio recording
b. Inmate's booking number
c. Date and time of call
d. Number dialed by the inmate
e. Duration of call
f. Exact phone the call was placed on
g. The HousingUnilllntake Booking Phones require the inmate to attach
his/her booking number to all phone calls. The Inmate Telephone
Monitoring System is activated every time a phone call is placed.
2. Non-Contact Visitine Phones
a. Audio recording
b. Inmate's booking number
c. Date and time of call
d. Number dialed by the inmate
e. Duration of the call
f. Exact phone the call was placed on
g. The Non-Contact Visiting Phones require the inmate to attach his/her
booking number to all visits. The Inmate Telephone Monitoring System is
activated every time a visit begins.
h. The Non-Contact Legal Phones and TTY hearing-impaired devices shall
not record privileged communications.
Access to the Telephone Monitoring System and audio recordings shall be limited
to authorized Sheriffls Office personnel, which includes the Sheriff s
Classification Unit, the Sheriff s Intel Unit, and Sheriff s personnel conducting aA.
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October 2019
specific criminal or administrative investigation; and the contracted phone
company (Legacy) for only the purposes of maintaining their System
(maintenance, updates, quality control, etc.).
B.It shall also be permissible for recorded audio to be accessed and listened to
tluough the Legacy managenent poftal by Sheriff s investigators or other
personnel granted access by the Sheriff, Sheriffls designee, or the Support
Services Captain in writing.
5. Data Protection
The County's contract for telephone monitoring shall require that data from telephone
recordings shall be maintained securely. Legacy provides secure hard drives, located at its
headquarters in Cypress, California, to securely store all audio recordings captured by the
Telephone Monitoring System. The audio recordings shall be made available to the
Classification Unit through a secure web-based management portal, hosted by Legacy. All
authorized staff with access to the Legacy managemsnt portal shall observe all required
security measures to ensure that access to the Telephone Monitoring System is limited to
authorized personnel only.
6. Data Retention
Audio recordings stored on Legacy's hard drives shall be retained for no longer than two
years. At that point, the Legacy management portal shall purge the information. It shall be
permissible for data to be downloaded onto an encrypted electronic storage device for the
purposes of documentation or evidence. Downloaded and copied data shall be maintained in
accordance with applicable state and federal laws, and shall be retained as long as deemed
necessary for administrative or criminal investigation and prosecution purposes. All other
data shall be retained for no longer than two