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Assembly Bill A5945

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Permits the use of portable electronic devices for making phone calls by incarcerated individuals

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2025-A5945 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Assembly Correction
Law Section:
Correction Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §623, Cor L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:
A9677

2025-A5945 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Permits the use of portable electronic devices for making phone calls as part of the telephone service system made available to incarcerated individuals.

2025-A5945 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5945
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 25, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. DILAN -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Correction
 
 AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to permitting the use of
   portable electronic devices for making  phone  calls  by  incarcerated
   individuals
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 623  of  the  correction  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  322  of  the  laws  of 2021, is amended to read as
 follows:
   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 individ-
 ual 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. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL INCLUDE AS PART OF ITS TELEPHONE
 SERVICE SYSTEM THE ABILITY TO MAKE  WIRELESS  CALLS  UTILIZING  PORTABLE
 TABLET  DEVICES  OR  OTHER  PORTABLE  ELECTRONIC  DEVICES. SUCH WIRELESS
 DEVICE CALLS SHALL NOT SUBSTITUTE FOR REGULAR PHONE  CALL  AVAILABILITY.
 THE  DEPARTMENT SHALL MAKE A REASONABLE EFFORT TO PROVIDE THESE WIRELESS
 CALLS FREE OF CHARGE.  SUCH WIRELESS CALLS SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO HIGH-
 ER COSTS THAN CALLS PLACED FROM TELEPHONES. THE  DEPARTMENT  SHALL  HAVE
 THE SAME ABILITY TO IMPOSE LIMITATIONS ON WIRELESS CALLS FOR INCARCERAT-
 ED INDIVIDUALS AS CALLS PLACED FROM TELEPHONES.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

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