H.R. 7491

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7491 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7491

To regulate monitoring of electronic communications between an 
incarcerated person in a Bureau of Prisons facility and that person's 
attorney or other legal representative, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 11, 2026

Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania (for herself, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Lee of 
Florida, and Mr. Bacon) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To regulate monitoring of electronic communications between an 
incarcerated person in a Bureau of Prisons facility and that person's 
attorney or other legal representative, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Effective Assistance of Counsel in 
the Digital Era Act''.

SEC. 2. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN AN INCARCERATED PERSON AND 
THE PERSON'S ATTORNEY.

(a) Prohibition on Monitoring.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall create a 
program or system, or modify any program or system that exists on the 
date of enactment of this Act, through which an incarcerated person 
sends or receives an electronic communication, to exclude from 
monitoring the contents of any privileged electronic communication. In 
the case that the Attorney General creates a program or system in 
accordance with this subsection, the Attorney General shall, upon 
implementing such system, discontinue using any program or system that 
exists on the date of enactment of this Act through which an 
incarcerated person sends or receives a privileged electronic 
communication, except that any program or system that exists on such 
date may continue to be used for any other electronic communication.
(b) Retention of Contents.--A program or system or a modification 
to a program or system under subsection (a) may allow for retention by 
the Bureau of Prisons of, and access by an incarcerated person to, the 
contents of electronic communications, including the contents of 
privileged electronic communications, of the person until the date on 
which the person is released from prison.
(c) Attorney-Client Privilege.--Attorney-client privilege, and the 
protections and limitations associated with such privilege (including 
the crime fraud exception), applies to electronic communications sent 
or received through the program or system established or modified under 
subsection (a).
(d) Accessing Retained Contents.--Contents retained under 
subsection (b) may only be accessed by a person other than the 
incarcerated person for whom such contents are retained under the 
following circumstances:
(1) Attorney general.--The Attorney General may only access 
retained contents if necessary for the purpose of creating and 
maintaining the program or system, or any modification to the 
program or system, through which an incarcerated person sends 
or receives electronic communications. The Attorney General may 
not review retained contents that are accessed pursuant to this 
paragraph.
(2) Investigative and law enforcement officers.--
(A) Warrant.--
(i) In general.--Retained contents may only 
be accessed by an investigative or law 
enforcement officer pursuant to a warrant 
issued by a court pursuant to the procedures 
described in the Federal Rules of Criminal 
Procedure.
(ii) Approval.--No application for a 
warrant may be made to a court without the 
express approval of a United States Attorney or 
an Assistant Attorney General.
(B) Privileged information.--
(i) Review.--Before retained contents may 
be accessed pursuant to a warrant obtained 
under subparagraph (A), such contents shall be 
reviewed by a United States Attorney to ensure 
that privileged electronic communications are 
not accessible.
(ii) Barring participation.--A United 
States Attorney who reviews retained contents 
pursuant to clause (i) shall be barred from--
(I) participating in a legal 
proceeding in which an individual who 
sent or received an electronic 
communication from which such contents 
are retained under subsection (b) is a 
defendant; or
(II) sharing the retained contents 
with an attorney who is participating 
in such a legal proceeding.
(3) Motion to suppress.--In a case in which retained 
contents have been accessed in violation of this subsection, a 
court may suppress evidence obtained or derived from access to 
such contents upon motion of the defendant.
(e) Definitions.--In this Act--
(1) the term ``agent of an attorney or legal 
representative'' means any person employed by or contracting 
with an attorney or legal representative, including law clerks, 
interns, investigators, paraprofessionals, and administrative 
staff;
(2) the term ``contents'' has the meaning given such term 
in 2510 of title 18, United States Code;
(3) the term ``electronic communication'' has the meaning 
given such term in section 2510 of title 18, United States 
Code, and includes the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer 
System;
(4) the term ``monitoring'' means accessing the contents of 
an electronic communication at any time after such 
communication is sent;
(5) the term ``incarcerated person'' means any individual 
in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons or the United States 
Marshals Service who has been charged with or convicted of an 
offense against the United States, including such an individual 
who is imprisoned in a State institution; and
(6) the term ``privileged electronic communication'' 
means--
(A) any electronic communication between an 
incarcerated person and a potential, current, or former 
attorney or legal representative of such a person; and
(B) any electronic communication between an 
incarcerated person and the agent of an attorney or 
legal representative described in subparagraph (A).
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