I have an interm, but have not yet received my full clearance. I recently found out a close friend of mine has been sentenced to prison for a firearms charge. I would like to keep in contact with this person, perhaps even visit, however I noticed that the phone call service for the prison this person is in states in the terms and services that they sell their data to DHS and private investigators.
I have not made contact with this person yet (via prison phone call), and have introduced the issue to my security representative. I am, however, worried that contact with this person may be used against me in my investigation, both for the charge, my clearance level, as well as potential phone recordings. Does anyone have experience with this?
I have had contact with inmates while being investigated and while holding a clearance, no issues. If you start talking about illegal things, then you may run into a problem. This may not ever come up until a poly where you may be asked have you ever “associated” with someone involved in criminal activity. Then you could explain yourself. I wouldn’t worry. My sibling is in prison for serious charges and it never caused anything negative for me.
You should be okay as long as you reported the association.
Also, family members in prison are looked at differently than friends in prison. You can’t choose your relatives.