The Public Defender of Georgia has issued a recommendation to the Minister of Justice of Georgia, aimed at ensuring the confidentiality of lawyers' professional working notes within penitentiary institutions and guaranteeing that these notes can be taken out without hindrance.

The Public Defender’s Office examined complaints from lawyers regarding restrictions on removing working notes - made during meetings with their clients - from various penitentiary institutions.

According to the Public Defender’s assessment, a lawyer’s working notes may contain significant information related to a criminal case, including defense strategies, the evaluation of evidence, details regarding the questioning of witnesses, and other data pertinent to trial preparation. Consequently, protecting the confidentiality of such information is essential for upholding a lawyer’s professional independence and ensuring the effective exercise of the right of defense. Furthermore, the Public Defender considers that a lawyer’s professional notes should be distinguished from a prisoner’s correspondence, and that the rules established for correspondence should not automatically apply to them. The mere fact that a document was created within a penitentiary institution during a meeting with a prisoner is not, in itself, sufficient to classify it as the prisoner’s correspondence.

The Public Defender recommends that the Minister of Justice develop or clarify a clear procedure for bringing a lawyer’s professional working notes into and out of the facility. Moreover, any security checks on these notes must be limited to measures that are both necessary and permitted by law. The procedures must preclude any risk of the content of these notes being improperly accessed, copied, retained, or disclosed.

The Public Defender emphasizes that while maintaining security in penitentiary institutions is important, the relevant procedures must be based on a legal foundation and must be both necessary and proportionate. Measures taken to ensure security must not restrict the protection of a lawyer’s professional secrets or the effective exercise of the right of defense.