PRIA Logo™
119-hr-7491119th Congress

Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act

Sponsored By: Representative Dean, Madeleine [D-PA-4]

Introduced

Summary

Protect attorney‑client privileged electronic communications for incarcerated people. This bill would require the Attorney General to create or modify a system within 180 days that excludes privileged electronic communications between incarcerated individuals and their attorneys or legal representatives from monitoring and to stop using prior monitoring tools for those privileged messages.

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

1 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

Stronger privacy for lawyer messages in prison

If enacted, the Attorney General would have 180 days to create or change a system that stops monitoring privileged electronic messages between people in prison and their lawyers. After the new system starts, older systems could not be used to send or receive privileged messages. The Bureau of Prisons could keep copies of messages and the person in prison could access them until release. Law enforcement could get saved messages only with a court warrant and express approval from a U.S. Attorney or Assistant Attorney General, and a reviewing U.S. Attorney could not take part in related prosecutions. Attorney-client privilege and related protections, including the crime-fraud exception, would apply to these electronic messages.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Dean, Madeleine [D-PA-4]

PA • D

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Jeffries, Hakeem S. [D-NY-8]

    NY • D

    Sponsored 2/11/2026

  • Rep. Lee, Laurel M. [R-FL-15]

    FL • R

    Sponsored 2/11/2026

  • Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2]

    NE • R

    Sponsored 2/11/2026

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
Back to Legislation