§§1-4 -
C.30:4-8.11 to
30:4-8.14
§5 - Note
An Act concerning inmate telephone charges and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. For the purposes of this act, “private correctional facility” means any private facility detaining persons pursuant to any intergovernmental service agreement or other contract with any federal, State, or county agency, including but not limited to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and including any private facility authorized under the provisions of P.L.1999, c.243 (C.30:4-91.9 et seq.).
2. a. All telephone service contracts for inmates in State or county correctional facilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions set forth in chapter 34 of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes and chapter 11 of Title 40A of the New Jersey Statutes; provided, however, the State Treasurer or appropriate person on behalf of the county or private correctional facility shall contract with the qualified vendor 2[who proposes the lowest per minute] whose2 rate 2shall2 not 2[exceeding the maximum rate allowed by the Federal Communications Commission 1[Order for state prisons, as specified in In the Matter of Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services, Second Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, WC Docket 12-375, FCC 15-136 (adopted Oct. 22, 2015) or successor order] pursuant to 47 C.F.R. s.64.6000 et seq.1] exceed 11 cents per minute2 for 2domestic2 debit, prepaid, and collect calls and who does not bill to any party any service charge or additional fee exceeding the per minute rate, including, but not limited to, any per call surcharge, account set up fee, bill statement fee, monthly account maintenance charge, or refund fee.
b. A State, county, or private correctional facility shall not accept or receive a commission or 1[any other payment from] impose a surcharge for telephone usage by inmates in addition to the charges imposed by1 the telephone service provider 1[based upon an amount the provider billed for telephone calls made by inmates in the correctional facility]. For the purposes of this section, “commission” means any form of monetary payment, in-kind payment requirement, gift, exchange of services or goods, fee, 3or3 technology allowance 3[,] . A commission or surcharge shall not include any3 product or the like that is 3[not]3 related to the completion of voice-only calls, inmate telephone service maintenance, the analysis of telephone records and related financial data for investigative or other purposes, or security enhancements, including, but not limited to, voice recognition software, text analytics, or 2[data IQ1] aggregate data analytical software2.
c. Telephone services made available through a prepaid or collect call system established pursuant to section 3 of this act may include international calls; provided however, that if international calls are included in the telephone services made available for inmates, those calls shall be made available at reasonable rates subject to Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations, but not to exceed 25 cents per minute.
3. a. The Department of Corrections, each county correctional facility, and each private correctional facility shall make available either a prepaid or collect call system, or a combination thereof, for telephone services for inmates.
b. Under a prepaid system, funds may be deposited into an inmate account in order to pay for telephone calls, provided that nothing in this section shall require the department, county, or private correctional facility to provide or administer a prepaid system.
c. The provider of the inmate telephone service, as an additional means of payment, shall permit the recipient of inmate collect calls to establish an account with that provider in order to deposit funds for advance payment of those collect calls.
d. For the purposes of this section, a “collect call system” 1[shall mean] means1 a call system pursuant to which recipients are billed for the cost of an accepted telephone call initiated by an inmate.
4. The department shall establish rules and regulations or departmental procedures to ensure that any inmate telephone call system established by this act provides reasonable security measures to preserve the safety and security of each State and county correctional facility, staff member, and person outside a facility who may receive inmate telephone calls.
5. 1[Sections 1, 2, and 4 of this] This1 act shall take effect immediately and section 2 shall apply to any new or renewal contract for inmate telephone services in effect on or after 2[April 10, 2015] the date of enactment2; 1provided however that1 section 3 of this act shall 1[take effect on] remain inoperative until1 the first day of the fourth month after 1the date of1 enactment.
Imposes certain requirements on telephone service contracts for inmates in certain correctional facilities.