§ 623 — Incarcerated individual telephone services

§ 623. Incarcerated individual telephone services. 1. Telephone\nservices contracts for incarcerated individuals in state correctional\nfacilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions as set forth\nin article eleven of the state finance law provided, however, that when\ndetermining the best value of such telephone service, the lowest\npossible cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized.\n 2. The department shall make available either a "prepaid" or "collect\ncall" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service. Under the\n"prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into an account in order to pay\nfor station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this subdivision\nshall require the department to provide or administer a prepaid system.\nUnder a "collect call" system, call recipients are billed for the cost\nof an accepted telephone call initiated by an incarcerated individual.\nUnder such "collect call" system, the provider of incarcerated\nindividual telephone service, as an additional means of payment, must\npermit the recipient of incarcerated individual calls to establish an\naccount with such provider in order to deposit funds to pay for such\ncollect calls in advance.\n 3. The department shall not accept or receive revenue in excess of its\nreasonable operating cost for establishing and administering such\ntelephone system services as provided in subdivisions one and two of\nthis section.\n 4. The department shall establish rules and regulations or\ndepartmental procedures to ensure that any incarcerated individual phone\ncall system established by this section provides reasonable security\nmeasures to preserve the safety and security of each correctional\nfacility, all staff and all persons outside a facility who may receive\nincarcerated individual phone calls.\n