[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 956 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 956

To regulate monitoring of electronic communications between a prisoner 
 in a Bureau of Prisons facility and that prisoner's attorney or other 
             legal representative, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 7, 2017

 Mr. Jeffries (for himself and Mr. Collins of Georgia) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To regulate monitoring of electronic communications between a prisoner 
 in a Bureau of Prisons facility and that prisoner's attorney or other 
             legal representative, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Effective Assistance of Counsel in 
the Digital Era Act''.

SEC. 2. MONITORING OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN PRISONER AND 
              ATTORNEY.

    (a) Prohibition on Monitoring.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall modify 
any program or system through which a prisoner (as such term is defined 
in section 107) sends or receives an electronic communication (as such 
term is defined in section 2510 of title 18, United States Code, and 
including the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System) to exclude 
from monitoring the contents (as such term is defined in section 2510 
of title 18, United States Code) of an electronic communication between 
a prisoner in a Bureau of Prisons facility and his or her attorney or 
other legal representative.
    (b) Retention of Contents.--The modification required under 
subsection (a) may allow for the retention of the contents of the 
electronic communications described in subsection (a).
    (c) Exception.--If a court of competent jurisdiction determines 
that there is sufficient evidence to support a reasonable belief of the 
Government that the information contained in an electronic 
communication described in subsection (a) was for the purpose of 
perpetrating a fraud or crime, an in camera review of the contents of 
the communication may be conducted.
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