Ransomware Attack Leads To Jail Lockdown

Bernalillo County filed an emergency notice in federal court last week because a ransomware attack made the Metropolitan Detention Center unable to comply with terms of a settlement agreement in a years-running lawsuit over jail conditions. From a report: The county last Wednesday announced its offices and systems were the victims of a cyberattack, affecting a wide variety of county government operations. Most county buildings were closed until further notice. As a result, the county-operated MDC has been unable to access its cameras since the attack, which is one of the reasons it has fallen out of compliance in the McClendon v. City of Albuquerque lawsuit, which centers on jail conditions. The attack has limited how much time inmates can spend out of their cells, and also reduced their access to telephones and tablets, according to the filing. The county also has been unable to gather data required as a condition of the settlement agreement. No visitors have been allowed. The county said in the filing that its inability to access cameras is one of the more concerning aspects of the cyberattack, which has caused the facility to be on "lockdown" since Wednesday.

No visitors = no attorney vist = big legal issues

[Joe_Dragon]

No visitors = no attorney vist = big legal issues

Re: No visitors = no attorney vist = big legal is

[insurgioFather]

No, it means no visits from family members etc. Lawyers are always exempt from when jails disallow visits as punishment or for other reasons.

Re:

[suss]

That wouldn't help against a corrupt employee with an usb stick containing malicious software. Then again, why wouldn't you not just epoxy all the usb ports of unprivileged computers..

What a convenient excuse

[killhour]

"It's too hard right now" isn't a free pass to commit human rights abuses. When the government doesn't have the resources to do x when I exercise my right to do y, they just don't get to do x - they don't suddenly get the right to tell me I have to not do y so they can keep doing x. Being in jail doesn't change that.

Re: What a convenient excuse

[insurgioFather]

Um. Yes the do. Visits from families or other non-lawyers is not a human right.
Should it be? I'd say yes. But it isn't.

Re:

[killhour]

Given that these things were promised in a settlement agreement to a lawsuit about jail conditions, I would say that they are as far as the legal system is concerned. The inmates are legally entitled to these things.