The Legal Aid Society revealed records and testimony Monday which shows that Defenders had contacted NYC Department of Correction officials nearly a year ago to alert them that prosecutors had received legally protected phone call recordings between clients and Legal Aid attorneys, as reported by the New York Daily News.

The email contradicts statements made by the Department asserting that they had remedied problems brought to light by Defender organizations. (Brooklyn Defender Services also raised the issue.)

“We … received news that the DA turned over two calls with [a Legal Aid] attorney as part of discovery,” The Legal Aid Society’s COO Archana Jayaram wrote to Correction Department officials in May 2020. “We have sent the list of staff and still are learning that our calls are being recorded. Please let us know how we can resolve this.”

Audits eventually revealed that a shocking 1,500 confidential calls between defense attorneys and their incarcerated clients had been recorded, leading to demands for the practice to be ended entirely.