Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Lawsuit claims NJ prosecutors secretly monitored attorney-client calls
By
Samantha Max
Published Dec 26, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Liudmila Chernetska / Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
Published Dec 26, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A man who was incarcerated in Hudson County, New Jersey, alleges jail officials and prosecutors there illegally listened to private conversations he had with his attorney while awaiting trial.
Yursil Kidwai says in a federal class-action lawsuit that jail officials secretly monitored phone conversations between him and his lawyer, which are privileged under New Jersey law, and then prosecutors used information shared in those calls to help build a sexual assault case against him. He later took a plea deal and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence, according to NJ.com, which first reported on the lawsuit.
His lawsuit also accuses jail officials and prosecutors of doing the same to others incarcerated in the Hudson County Correctional Facility.
Kidwai is asking the court to mandate that county officials stop monitoring attorney-client calls and implement training and policies that ensure the practice doesn’t continue. His suit also asks for monetary damages.
The lawsuit does not challenge the outcome of Kidwai’s criminal case.
The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the county executive’s office, which oversees all other county departments, declined to comment on behalf of Hudson’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, citing the pending litigation. Attorney Mark Berman, who filed the lawsuit, also declined to comment.
Kidwai said he learned county officials had been monitoring conversations with his attorney during the discovery process, when he said the prosecutor's office inadvertently gave him a copy of a memorandum that a detective in the office shared with prosecutors, summarizing calls between him and his lawyer.
His suit alleges that jail officials recorded at least one other incarcerated person’s attorney-client calls and shared them with prosecutors. Kidwai also alleges these two cases were not anomalies and that “numerous” other people’s calls have likely been recorded since at least May 2020 but does not provide additional evidence to support claims about calls other than his own.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for New Jersey, argues that correction officials regularly monitored and recorded calls between incarcerated people and their lawyers, in violation of their constitutional rights. It claims the county prosecutor’s office “had a policy, custom or practice” of covertly listening to those recordings.
The suit claims top-level officials in the corrections department and prosecutor's office knew there was a regular practice of monitoring and recording calls between attorneys and their clients and allowed it to continue, even though they should have known that doing so was illegal. It also argues that both agencies failed to properly train their employees.
Kidwai argues that practice violated his and other incarcerated people’s Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, and 14th Amendment right to due process. His lawsuit also cites court cases that have bolstered privacy protections for phone conversations in jail and have warned law enforcement not to obtain evidence using methods that infringe on people’s constitutional rights.
New Jersey law guarantees that conversations between lawyers and their clients are privileged, which means that clients can refuse to disclose the substance of any of their communications. Clients can also prevent their lawyers or witnesses from sharing information discussed in attorney-client conversations.
Another state law bans the monitoring of phone calls related to incarcerated people’s legal cases, except to determine whom they are calling.
Tagged
public safety
new jersey
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NY unemployment recipients brace for delays during system upgrade
The shutdown is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on Monday and last for nine to 12 days.
By
Jon Campbell
and
Carol Chen
Published Oct 30, 2026 at 12:59 p.m. ET
Influential Brooklyn developer illegally raised rents despite tax break, lawsuit claims
The lawsuit targets the leasing practices of the company Two Trees, which recently received a special carveout in the New York state budget.
By
David Brand
News
Influential Brooklyn developer illegally raised rents despite tax break, lawsuit claims
The lawsuit targets the leasing practices of the company Two Trees, which recently received a special carveout in the New York state budget.
By
David Brand
Democrats' early voting lead in NJ keeps growing ahead of Election Day
By
Mike Hayes
Early Addition: Is Harry running?
By
James Ramsay
NYC Council takes key step toward Mamdani's promised Department of Community Safety
By
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .