Lawyer caught sitting on inmate's lap with his hand up her skirt'

A lawyer has been banned from her client's jail after allegedly engaging in a sexual encounter during visiting hours.

Amber Lunsford is accused of sitting on the man's lap with her hand on his jumpsuit and his hand up her skirt.

Slamming the allegation as defamatory, Ms Lunsford claims she is the victim of a smear campaign after a recent dispute with the sheriff's department over detainees' rights at Stanislaus County jail in Modesto, California.

Ms Lunsford, who runs her own legal firm Lunsford Legal Group and represents a number of inmates at the jail, has been banned from visiting any of her clients.

'We believe that there's been a false police report prepared, we have not seen the police report so we don't know what lies have been told,' Lunsford's attorney, Mary Lynn Belsher, told CBS13.

'There was nothing that happened between Amber Lunsford and her client,' said Belsher. 

'Her client wants her to continue with her representation.' 

Ms Lunsford believes this is a retaliation after she complained about the way her client was being treated in hail.

'It had to do with deprivation of health care, deprivation of proper writing utensils like paper and pencils for the inmates and the fact the inmates were being denied the opportunity to have access to their discovery delivered by the attorney so they could prepare and know what was going on in their cases,' Belsher explained.

'I think they are trying to gain an unfair advantage in court by disparaging her reputation before the court.'

The sheriff's department has yet to comment on the dispute. 

Culled