Bill Text: NY S04917 | 2023-2024 | 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 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION [S04917 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S04917-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4917

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 17, 2023
                                       ___________

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

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00481-01-3
        S. 4917                             2

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