Bill Text: NY S02790 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides electronic mail services to an incarcerated individual which allows an incarcerated individual to send up to ten electronic mail letters a day at no charge.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION [S02790 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S02790-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2790

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 25, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- 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  electronic
          mail services to an incarcerated individual

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 623 of the correction law, as added by chapter  240
     2  of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §  623. [Inmate] Incarcerated individual telephone and electronic mail
     4  services. 1.  Telephone  and  electronic  mail  services  contracts  for
     5  [inmates]  incarcerated  individuals  in  state  correctional facilities
     6  shall be subject to the procurement provisions as set forth  in  article
     7  eleven of the state finance law provided, however, that when determining
     8  the best value of such telephone and electronic mail service, the lowest
     9  possible  cost to the telephone and electronic mail user shall be empha-
    10  sized.
    11    2. a. The department  shall  make  available  either  a  "prepaid"  or
    12  "collect  call" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service.
    13  Under the "prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into  an  account  in
    14  order to pay for station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this
    15  subdivision  shall  require  the  department  to provide or administer a
    16  prepaid system.   Under a "collect call"  system,  call  recipients  are
    17  billed  for  the  cost  of  an  accepted  telephone call initiated by an
    18  [inmate] incarcerated individual. Under such "collect call" system,  the
    19  provider  of  [inmate]  incarcerated individual telephone service, as an
    20  additional means of payment,  must  permit  the  recipient  of  [inmate]
    21  incarcerated individual calls to establish an account with such provider
    22  in order to deposit funds to pay for such collect calls in advance.
    23    b.  The  department  shall make available a "prepaid" system for elec-
    24  tronic mail service. Under the "prepaid" system, funds may be  deposited

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05951-01-1
        S. 2790                             2

     1  into  an account in order to pay for additional electronic mail pursuant
     2  to subdivision three of this section,  provided  that  nothing  in  this
     3  subdivision  shall  require  the  department  to provide or administer a
     4  prepaid system.
     5    3.  The  department  shall  provide secure electronic mail services to
     6  individuals in its custody. An incarcerated individual may  send  up  to
     7  ten  electronic  mail  letters a day at no charge. Additional electronic
     8  mail letters sent by such incarcerated individual may incur a charge  of
     9  no  more  than twenty-five cents per electronic mail letter on a prepaid
    10  account established pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision two  of  this
    11  section.    No  person  shall be charged for sending a secure electronic
    12  mail letter to an incarcerated individual.
    13    4. The department shall not accept or receive revenue in excess of its
    14  reasonable operating cost for establishing and administering such  tele-
    15  phone  and  electronic  mail system services as provided in subdivisions
    16  one, two and [two] three of this section.
    17    [4.] 5. The  department  shall  establish  rules  and  regulations  or
    18  departmental  procedures  to ensure that any [inmate] incarcerated indi-
    19  vidual phone call and electronic mail system established by this section
    20  provides reasonable security measures to preserve the safety and securi-
    21  ty of each correctional facility, all staff and all  persons  outside  a
    22  facility who may receive [inmate] incarcerated individual phone calls or
    23  electronic mail letters.
    24    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    25  it shall have become a law.