N.Y. Correction Law § 623: Incarcerated individual telephone services

§ 623. Incarcerated individual telephone services. 1. Telephone

services contracts for incarcerated individuals in state correctional

facilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions as set forth

in article eleven of the state finance law provided, however, that when

determining the best value of such telephone service, the lowest

possible cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized.

2. The department shall make available either a "prepaid" or "collect

call" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service. Under the

"prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into an account in order to pay

for station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this subdivision

shall require the department to provide or administer a prepaid system.

Under a "collect call" system, call recipients are billed for the cost

of an accepted telephone call initiated by an incarcerated individual.

Under such "collect call" system, the provider of incarcerated

individual telephone service, as an additional means of payment, must

permit the recipient of incarcerated individual calls to establish an

account with such provider in order to deposit funds to pay for such

collect calls in advance.

3. The department shall not accept or receive revenue in excess of its

reasonable operating cost for establishing and administering such

telephone system services as provided in subdivisions one and two of

this section.

4. The department shall establish rules and regulations or

departmental procedures to ensure that any incarcerated individual phone

call system established by this section provides reasonable security

measures to preserve the safety and security of each correctional

facility, all staff and all persons outside a facility who may receive

incarcerated individual phone calls.