NY State Senate Bill 2023-S4917

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to crime victims, crime and correction
Feb 17, 2023	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

co-Sponsors

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Correction Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §623, Cor L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S7727
2021-2022: S2790

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Summary

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.

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4917

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to providing electronic
mail services to an incarcerated individual

 
PURPOSE:

To require free email services for incarcerated individuals.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends Correction Law 623. Section 2 provides an effective
date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2007, NYS changed correction law 623 to instruct DOCCS to provide
telephone services to incarcerated people at the lowest cost possible

and prohibited the department from receiving telephone revenues beyond
its operating costs. The intent behind that bill was to keep incarcerat-
ed people connected to their families without undue financial burden. In
2019, DOCCS distributed electronic tablets to individuals in its custo-
dy. The tablets, were provided "free of charge" by the telephone
services provider contracting with the department. The catch to the free
tablets is that the provider charges up to 33 cents per email to incar-
cerated individuals, which cost is borne by their families or friends to
whom they are sending emails. The profit from emails goes to the service
provider, currently Securus. An incarcerated person sending five emails
per day would pay $49.50 per month, making the "free" tablets quite
expensive.

The general public is accustomed to sending free emails. Even if you pay
for an internet service provider, there is no incremental cost for each
email sent. Families of incarcerated people are generally not wealthy
and already spend scarce family resources going to visit their loved
ones in prison, sending them food packages and accepting collect phone
calls. This bill gives each person in a correctional facility up to ten
free emails per day, allowing them to communicate with family, friends
and attorneys at no charge to those receiving the emails much like with
any other instant communication program.  Requiring payment per message
on an electronic messaging system is predatory toward low-income indi-
viduals within the corrections system.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.2790 of 2021-22: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction;

S.7727 of 2020: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minimal.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred and twentieth day after it
shall have become a law.

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4917
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             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:
 
   Section 1. Section 623 of the correction law, as  amended  by  chapter
 322 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
   § 623. Incarcerated individual telephone AND ELECTRONIC MAIL services.
 1.  Telephone  AND  ELECTRONIC  MAIL 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 AND ELECTRONIC MAIL service, the lowest possible cost to
 the telephone AND ELECTRONIC MAIL user shall be emphasized.
   2. A. 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 incar-
 cerated  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.
   B. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE A "PREPAID"  SYSTEM  FOR  ELEC-
 TRONIC  MAIL SERVICE. UNDER THE "PREPAID" SYSTEM, FUNDS MAY BE DEPOSITED
 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
 
 TO  SUBDIVISION  THREE  OF  THIS  SECTION, PROVIDED THAT NOTHING IN THIS
 SUBDIVISION SHALL REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT  TO  PROVIDE  OR  ADMINISTER  A
 PREPAID SYSTEM.
   3.  THE  DEPARTMENT  SHALL  PROVIDE SECURE ELECTRONIC MAIL SERVICES TO
 INDIVIDUALS IN ITS CUSTODY. AN INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL MAY  SEND  UP  TO
 TEN  ELECTRONIC  MAIL  LETTERS A DAY AT NO CHARGE. ADDITIONAL ELECTRONIC
 MAIL LETTERS SENT BY SUCH INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL MAY INCUR A CHARGE  OF
 NO  MORE  THAN TWENTY-FIVE CENTS PER ELECTRONIC MAIL LETTER ON A PREPAID
 ACCOUNT ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH B OF SUBDIVISION TWO  OF  THIS
 SECTION. NO PERSON SHALL BE CHARGED FOR SENDING A SECURE ELECTRONIC MAIL
 LETTER TO AN INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL.
   4. The department shall not accept or receive revenue in excess of its
 reasonable  operating cost for establishing and administering such tele-
 phone AND ELECTRONIC MAIL system services as  provided  in  subdivisions
 one [and], two AND THREE of this section.
   [4.]  5.  The  department  shall  establish  rules  and regulations or
 departmental procedures to ensure that any incarcerated individual phone
 call AND ELECTRONIC MAIL 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  OR  ELECTRONIC  MAIL
 LETTERS.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
 it shall have become a law.

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Senate Bill S4917

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

co-Sponsors

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S4917

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Sponsored By

Luis R. Sepúlveda

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

co-Sponsors

Leroy Comrie

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S4917 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments