Defense attorneys representing inmates objected after discovering their privileged conferences with clients had been recorded, despite CoreCivic having repeatedly assured them the meetings would be kept private.

Robinson scolded prosecutors for speeding forward with an alleged prison contraband case, which she called a “horrendous situation.

Robinson said she planned to order the U.S. Department of Justice to pay for the investigation, which is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Prosecutors said they obtained the recordings inadvertently while gathering evidence of a prison contraband ring that could involve as many as 95 inmates and 60 non-inmates.

Barry Pollack, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said, "You have a failure on the part of the institution that is recording something that it shouldn't be.

One defendant, Michelle Reulet, was released almost three years early after it was learned CCA shared recordings of her meetings with her attorney with the U.S.

She also sanctioned Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach for violations of the Federal Rules of Civil Evidence during the trial.