The police in Skane had the technical opportunity to listen to the conversations between attorney and client in custody

For two periods, one in the new year 2023 and the other in 2021, phone calls between detainees and their lawyers were made regularly using a cordless phone used in cells with monitors.

Thus, it was technically possible for the police to listen in on conversations in real time from the offices of the warden and remand guards. Video recordings of the cells were also stored.

Now, the police chief of the Sør-East Police District has been fined NOK 50,000 for violating Section 172 of the Criminal Code, cf. 171, cf. Art. 27, the police write in press release.

This practice has changed

It is mentioned several times in the press release that there is no indication that the conversations were actually meant to be listened to at any time, neither in real time nor when reviewing the recordings afterwards.

The Chief of Police, Ole B. Sæverud, has taken up the motion.

It is important for the police to ensure that confidentiality is maintained in attorney-client conversations. Although there is no indication that these conversations were being listened to, the practice has changed, a clear general rule that lawyers’ conversations should take place in rooms without monitoring equipment, he said.

– In cases where it is considered, after a concrete assessment, that there may be a danger to the life or health of the inmate or attorney, we have established cells without sound transmission, but with image transmission. This was done by removing the possibility of transmitting audio and therefore there is no technical possibility of listening to the conversations.

– I think this is the case in several places

Matrix attorney and deputy leader of the defense group, Cecily Nakstad, wasn’t surprised when she heard about the previous phone practice at the Skane Detention Center.

– I think this is the case in several places. It’s not a lucky practice at all, and it’s good for the Chief of Police to do something about it in the Southeast Police District, she said.

Until recently, there were also challenges in telephone conversations between detainees and lawyers at the Oslo detention center, according to Nakstad.

– If we had spoken to our clients in custody earlier, the phone call had been transferred to the in-cell communication system. It worked very poorly and also did not maintain the confidentiality that should exist between client and attorney, which the defense group has repeatedly complained about. Now they have changed this practice, and instead we were summoned from the detention center if the client wanted to talk to us. We are then given a phone number to call again after a few minutes, meanwhile the customer is taken to a suitable room, where the conversation cannot be overheard by others.