Are your video visits at SCI Somerset private? What gets recorded and what doesn't
Planning a video visit with someone at SCI Somerset? It helps to know what's private and what isn't. Most video visits are recorded, but attorney visits work differently.
At PA Department of Corrections facilities like SCI Somerset, video visits are monitored and recorded. Unless you're meeting with an attorney, your video visit is treated as a standard social visit. That means it can be audio and video recorded, and the Department of Corrections may review it.
Tip: Assume any non-attorney video visit is recorded and could be reviewed later. Save sensitive topics, especially legal strategy, for a private attorney visit.
Attorney video visits are the exception. These legal visits are not audio or video recorded, protecting privileged attorney-client communication.
"Monitored and recorded" means you should treat a regular video visit like a conversation that isn't private. The Department of Corrections can review non-attorney visits, so anything you say or show on camera could become part of a record.
- ✓ Assume non-attorney video visits are audio/video recorded.
- ✓ Speak like the visit could be reviewed later, because non-attorney visits may be subject to review.
- ✓ Save legal questions, case details, and other sensitive topics for a private attorney visit.
- ✓ If you are unsure whether a visit counts as legal counsel, treat it as a recorded non-attorney visit until you confirm it is an attorney visit.
Need a private conversation about legal matters? Attorney video visits are handled differently than family visits. They're not audio or video recorded. On the mail side, privileged legal correspondence has its own protections: privileged mail must show an attorney or court control number on the envelope, and attorneys use a weekly secondary authentication number/time code.
- Check the front of the envelope for a control number. Privileged (legal) mail must include an attorney or court control number.
- Add the weekly authentication/time code (attorneys only). Privileged legal mail also requires the weekly secondary authentication number/time code on the envelope.
- Keep the required numbers on the envelope. Make sure the control number and the weekly authentication/time code appear on the outside front of the envelope so it is processed as privileged correspondence.
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