Requires the department of corrections and community supervision to provide telephone services to individuals within the custody of the department in correctional facilities at no cost to the individuals or the receiving parties for domestic telephone calls.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6276
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 31, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and
Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to providing telephone
service to inmates at no cost
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 623 of the correction
2 law, as added by chapter 240 of the laws of 2007, are amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. Telephone services contracts for inmates in state correctional
5 facilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions as set forth
6 in article eleven of the state finance law [provided, however, that when
7 determining the best value of such telephone service, the lowest possi-
8 ble cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized].
9 2. The department shall [make available either a "prepaid" or "collect
10 call" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service. Under the
11 "prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into an account in order to pay
12 for station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this subdivision
13 shall require the department to provide or administer a prepaid system.
14 Under a "collect call" system, call recipients are billed for the cost
15 of an accepted telephone call initiated by an inmate. Under such
16 "collect call" system, the provider of inmate telephone service, as an
17 additional means of payment, must permit the recipient of inmate calls
18 to establish an account with such provider in order to deposit funds to
19 pay for such collect calls in advance] provide telephone services to
20 individuals within the custody of the department in correctional facili-
21 ties at no cost to the individuals or the receiving parties for domestic
22 telephone calls.
23 3. The department shall not accept or receive revenue [in excess of
24 its reasonable operating cost] for establishing and administering such
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11453-01-9
S. 6276 2
1 telephone system services as provided in subdivisions one and two of
2 this section.
3 § 2. This act shall take effect April 1, 2020 and shall apply to any
4 new or renewal contract for inmate telephone services entered into on or
5 after such date and provided further that any new or renewal contract
6 for inmate telephone services entered into prior to April 1, 2020 shall
7 not run past March 31, 2020.