Public defender says agreement to resume virtual attorney visits with inmates at Harford jail is 'close'

James Whitlow, The Aegis, Bel Air, Md.
·2 min read

May 5—An agreement that would allow attorneys from Harford County's public defender's office to resume virtual visits with clients at the county jail is close to being reached, the district public defender said.

Attorneys representing Harford County Detention Center Warden Daniel Galbraith and District Public Defender for Harford County Kelly Casper met for approximately an hour Wednesday in judge's chambers to discuss the issue, out of the public view.

The parties will meet at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Harford County Circuit Court to share more details publicly, Casper said. She declined to provide specifics after the conference, but said "it seems like we are close or there."

According to electronic court records, the attorneys will submit a written agreement for the judge's signature then.

Maryland's Office of the Public Defender filed a complaint on April 21 seeking to require Galbraith to allow attorneys virtual meetings with their clients at the detention center, which ceased despite known cases of COVID-19 in the jail.

The public defender's office contends that the virtual meeting system attorneys used to communicate with their clients in the jail since January was cut off April 5.

The change, the office argues, "unreasonably infringes" defendants' rights to counsel, puts its attorneys at risk and gives wealthier people greater access to representation than indigent clients that the public defender's office represents.

Galbraith said the virtual process raised security and manpower concerns, according to the document. The Harford County Sheriff's Office — which operates the jail — declined to outline those concerns when The Aegis asked for more information after the complaint was filed.

According to the complaint, one inmate who was positive for COVID-19 was brought to visit with their public defender in-person. The attorney was not notified of their client's COVID status or a change in housing to the dormitory for inmates who tested positive for the virus, according to the complaint.

Casper said that attorney learned of their client's COVID-positivity mid-conversation.

The complaint also contends that virtual visits are not substantially different from in-person visits and could be allowed.

Inmates can provide an attorney's phone number to the detention center to place unmonitored calls from the jail, but that inmate's commissary account is charged for every minute he or she is on the phone, the complaint states, giving wealthier clients more access to their attorneys. Those calls are also not private; the area where they are placed is accessible to other inmates.

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