"Pandemic opportunism: Prison call-monitoring system exploits virus panic," 8 May 2020

Verus, a monitoring software by the Los Angles-based LEO Technologies, was first deployed several years ago to help prison officials detect suicide attempts, investigate incidents and more... Apart from calls to attorneys, prison phone calls are regularly recorded and monitored. Verus simply aims to improve the efficacy of the system... [W]ith the COVID-19 pandemic, LEO Technologies is making a marketing push for Verus, positioning the software as a crucial tool in preventing the spread of the virus... The efficacy of this proposal has been called into question by advocates for civil liberties... Shilpi Agarwal, a senior attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, described the push for Verus as an “opportunistic branding of a problematic technology.”

... Because Verus is merely installed on top of a prison’s existing system, and is run through both LEO Technologies and Amazon Web Services, the potential for privileged communications to be recorded or analyzed increases exponentially... If prison officials are concerned with the welfare of inmates, there are more direct and effective solutions that could be implemented to protect people’s health and save lives. Policies of decarceration — releasing nonviolent, low-risk offenders — or relocation should be considered. Or prisons could invest in improved health care facilities and resources.