S2526

An Act providing free telecommunication services for incarcerated adults and juveniles, amending P.L.2016, c.37, and making an appropriation.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 2 of P.L.2016, c.37 (C.30:4-8.12) is amended to read as follows:

2. a. All [telephone] voice communication, video communication, and electronic mail service contracts for [inmates] incarcerated persons in State or county correctional facilities, including private correctional facilities and juvenile offender 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 whose rate shall not exceed 11 cents per minute for domestic 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] to the extent that voice communication, video communication, and electronic mail services are provided, each such service shall be provided at no cost to any party to the communication Such state and local agencies must at least maintain the same access to voice and other communication services as the agencies allowed on January 1^st, 2024.

b. A State, county, or private correctional facility, or juvenile offender facility shall not accept or receive a commission or impose a surcharge for [telephone] voice communication, video communication, and electronic mail usage by [inmates] incarcerated persons [in addition to the charges imposed by the telephone service provider]. For the purposes of this section, “commission” means any form of monetary payment, in-kind payment requirement, gift, exchange of services or goods, fee, or technology allowance. [A commission or surcharge shall not include any product or the like that is 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 aggregate data analytical software.]

c. [Telephone] Voice communication services made available [through a prepaid or collect call system established] to incarcerated persons pursuant to section 3 of this act [may] shall 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] at no cost to any party to the communication.

(cf: P.L.2016, c.37, s.2)

2. Section 3 of P.L.2016, c.37 (C.30:4-8.13) is amended to read as follows:

3. a. The Department of Corrections, the Juvenile Justice Commission, 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] voice communication services for [inmates] incarcerated persons at no cost to any party to the communication. The Department of Corrections, the Juvenile Justice Commission, each county correctional facility, and each private correctional facility may supplement voice communication services with other communication services, including, but not limited to, video communication and electronic mail services. Such supplemental services, if provided, shall be provided at no cost to any party to the communication. Access to all such communication services shall not be limited beyond program participation and routine facility procedures.

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.] (Deleted by amendment, P.L. , c. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)

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.] (Deleted by amendment, P.L. , c. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)

d. [For the purposes of this section, a “collect call system” means a call system pursuant to which recipients are billed for the cost of an accepted telephone call initiated by an inmate.] (Deleted by amendment, P.L. , c. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)

e. The administrator of each State, county, or private correctional facility shall ensure that the full amount of any funds remaining as of the effective date of this subsection held in a prepaid
account by or for an incarcerated person is transferred to that incarcerated person’s commissary account.

(cf: P.L.2016, c.37, s.3)

3. Section 4 of P.L.2016, c.37 (C.30:4-8.14) is amended to read as follows:

4. The [department] Department of Corrections and the Juvenile Justice Commission shall each establish uniform rules and regulations or departmental procedures, respectively, which shall be applicable to every adult and juvenile correctional facility in the State, including county and private correctional facilities, to ensure that any [inmate telephone call system] voice communication, video communication, or electronic mail service for incarcerated persons 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] such communications [telephone calls].

(cf: P.L.2016, c.37, s.4)

4. (New section) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Corrections and the Juvenile Justice Commission such funds as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act, as certified by the Commissioner of Corrections and the Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission, respectively, and subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury.

5. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month following enactment. However, the Commissioner of Corrections and the Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission may take such anticipatory administrative action as necessary for the timely implementation of this act.

STATEMENT

This bill provides that all adult and juvenile correctional facilities in the State operated by the Department of Corrections, the Juvenile Justice Commission, the counties, and private operators allow incarcerated persons to make and receive telephone calls, video calls, and electronic mail free of charge to both the sending and receiving party.

Under current law, incarcerated persons may be charged for domestic telephone calls at up to 11 cents per minute using a debit, prepaid, or collect call system. Current law does not require incarcerated persons to have access to video calls or electronic mail, although such capability is already in place at certain facilities, with a fee charged to the incarcerated person.

The bill makes an appropriation of such funds as may be necessary for the implementation of the bill, as certified by the Commissioner of Corrections and the Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission. The Department of Corrections and the Juvenile Justice Commission retain the authority to establish rules and regulations for the security of telecommunication services. It is the sponsor’s intent that the bill would not require any renegotiation of existing State or local contracts for telecommunication services, but would instead shift the costs associated with the contracts to the correctional facility operator.

In the sponsor’s view, the more incarcerated persons stay in touch with their families, the better they do when they reenter society, while those with weaker support systems due to lack of communication during incarceration are more likely to re-offend. Maintaining family and community connection while incarcerated is key to successful reentry, and thus it is in the public interest to reduce the economic burden on incarcerated persons associated with making and receiving calls and messages. The sponsor notes that New York City, Connecticut, California, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Colorado have all recently adopted legislation to make telecommunication services free to incarcerated persons.

The sponsor further notes that prison telecommunication services is a $1.4 billion industry that has been accused of price-gouging and profiteering from the families of incarcerated persons. According to some studies, one in three families with an incarcerated loved one goes into debt over the cost of telephone calls charged by correctional facilities. It is the sponsor’s intent to ease the enormous financial burden on the families of incarcerated persons who are simply trying to maintain communication with their loved ones.