Wyoming Will Honor Prisoner Confidentiality

By The Associated Press

CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Department of Corrections has agreed that investigators and staff at state prisons will respect the confidentiality of communications between inmates and their lawyers.
The corrections department adopted a new policy this week in response to a lawsuit filed by a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Lawyer Stephen Pevar sued the state in federal court this summer claiming that a lieutenant at the Rawlins prison had interrogated an inmate about what Pevar had told him.
Pevar and the state filed a proposed settlement of the lawsuit this week with U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer in Cheyenne.
The settlement includes a new state policy that prohibits investigators from interrogating prisoners regarding their attorney-client communications.
Steve Lindly is deputy director of the corrections department.
He says that the department has never supported violating the attorney-client privilege. He says the new policy will make the department's position clearer.
Wyoming Sun