The Meaning of America

If you didn’t know, all jail calls are recorded by law enforcement, and the calls are saved. Prosecutors obtain recorded jailhouse calls and listen to them for incriminating statements. They also use them to establish the known voice of an accused person.

Since all calls are recorded, accused people stuck in custody should never discuss anything about their case over the phone when talking with loved ones.

Some accused in custody think they can talk about their case using a code. Most of these codes are obvious, and law enforcement knows when someone is talking in code. Beyond that, why would an innocent person talk in code? Attempting to use a code in a call from the jail is evidence that may incriminate a person.

An accused in custody can talk on the phone to their family, but they should not discuss the case. If the accused wants his family informed about case developments, he can authorize his lawyer to speak to a representative family member. In this way, the family can be kept up to date without the accused talking on a recorded call.

During a federal criminal investigation, Federal Law enforcement often obtains wiretaps. These wiretaps authorize them to record calls made by the target of their investigation. Law enforcement cannot always identify who the target is talking to on the recorded calls.

Law enforcement sometimes needs to identify unknown voices on wiretapped calls. To identify voices, law enforcement will compare the recorded known voice of the person in jail to the recorded unknown voice of the person on the wiretapped calls.

The accused who is in custody should be aware that sometimes law enforcement uses his recorded calls to try to match his known voice with unknown voices obtained on wiretaps.