Bill Text: NY S03512 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

---

Bill Title: Relates to providing voice communication services to incarcerated individuals in state correctional facilities at no cost; requires agencies charged with the operation and management of state and local correctional facilities and juvenile detention facilities to provide persons in their custody with voice communication service at a minimum of 90 minutes per day.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-04 - PRINT NUMBER 3512B [S03512 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S03512-Amended.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         3512--B

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 29, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens. BAILEY, COONEY, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, RIVERA, STAVISKY
          -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
          the Committee on Crime Victims,  Crime  and  Correction  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to  said  committee  -- recommitted to the Committee on Crime Victims,
          Crime and Correction in accordance with  Senate  Rule  6,  sec.  8  --
          committee  discharged,  bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
          recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the correction  law,  in  relation  to  providing  voice
          communication services to incarcerated individuals  at no cost

          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  amended  by  chapter
     2  322 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §   623.   [Incarcerated  individual  telephone]  Voice  communication
     4  services for incarcerated individuals.  1.  [Telephone]  Voice  communi-
     5  cation  services contracts for incarcerated individuals in state correc-
     6  tional facilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions as  set
     7  forth  in  article  eleven  of the state finance law [provided, however,
     8  that when determining the best value  of  such  telephone  service,  the
     9  lowest possible cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized].
    10    2. [The department shall make available either a "prepaid" or "collect
    11  call" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service. Under the
    12  "prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into an account in order to pay
    13  for  station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this subdivision
    14  shall require the department to provide or administer a prepaid  system.
    15  Under  a  "collect call" system, call recipients are billed for the cost
    16  of an accepted telephone call initiated by an  incarcerated  individual.
    17  Under  such "collect call" system, the provider of incarcerated individ-
    18  ual telephone service, as an additional means of  payment,  must  permit
    19  the  recipient  of incarcerated individual calls to establish an account

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02029-09-2
        S. 3512--B                          2

     1  with such provider in order to deposit funds to  pay  for  such  collect
     2  calls  in  advance]  State and local agencies charged with the operation
     3  and management of state and local correctional facilities  and  juvenile
     4  detention facilities shall provide persons in their custody and confined
     5  in a correctional or detention facility with voice communication service
     6  at a minimum of ninety minutes per day and ensure sufficient infrastruc-
     7  ture to meet this baseline. The commissioner may supplement voice commu-
     8  nication  service with other advanced communication services, including,
     9  but not limited to, video communication and electronic mail services. To
    10  the extent that  the  commissioner  provides  such  voice  communication
    11  service  or  any other advanced communication service, each such service
    12  shall be provided free of charge to the person initiating and the person
    13  receiving the communication.
    14    3. [The department shall not accept or receive revenue  in  excess  of
    15  its  reasonable  operating  cost for establishing and administering such
    16  telephone system services as provided in subdivisions  one  and  two  of
    17  this  section]  No  state or local agency shall receive revenue from the
    18  provision of voice communication services  or  any  other  communication
    19  services  to  any  person  confined  in a state or local correctional or
    20  detention facility.
    21    4. Nothing in this section shall be construed  to  limit,  replace  or
    22  prevent  in-person  visitation  between  persons  confined in a state or
    23  local correctional or detention facility and relatives, friends  or  any
    24  other persons approved to visit such person.
    25    5.  The  department  shall  establish rules and regulations or depart-
    26  mental procedures to ensure that any [incarcerated individual phone call
    27  system] voice communication services for incarcerated individuals estab-
    28  lished by this section provides reasonable security measures to preserve
    29  the safety and security of each correctional facility, all staff and all
    30  persons outside a  facility  who  may  receive  incarcerated  individual
    31  [phone calls] voice communication services for incarcerated individuals.
    32    §  2.  This act shall take effect April 1, 2023 and shall apply to any
    33  new or renewal contract for voice communication services for incarcerat-
    34  ed individuals or other advanced communication services entered into  on
    35  or after such date and provided further that any new or renewal contract
    36  for  voice  communication services for incarcerated individuals or other
    37  advanced communication services entered into  prior  to  April  1,  2023
    38  shall not run past March 31, 2023.