Bill > S2896

Introduced Session

This bill imposes requirements on video visitation service contracts for inmates in State, county, and private correctional facilities and requires correctional facilities to allow inmates to have contact visits. Under the provisions of this bill, the State Treasurer or other appropriate person on behalf of the county or private correctional facility is to contract with a vendor who charges a per minute rate for video visitation, including video visitation that is accessed by visitors from a location other than a correctional facility, which is not to exceed 11 cents per minute and who is the lowest responsible bidder. A vendor is not to bill any service charge or additional fee exceeding the per minute rate. The bill also provides that a State, county, or private correctional facility is not permitted to receive a commission or impose a surcharge for video visitation usage by inmates in addition to the charges imposed by the service provider. Further, under the bill, the contract is to include a term that requires monetary penalties to be imposed on a vendor who does not maintain consistent and reliable quality of the video visitation service. In addition, a video visitation service provider is required to refund, in a timely manner, any charges imposed: (1) for a scheduled video visitation that does not occur for any reason other than the fault of the visitor; or (2) any video visitation in which communication between the inmate and the visitor is substantially impaired due to low quality audio or video. The bill prohibits a State, county, or private correctional facility from imposing a charge for video visitation between an inmate and the inmate's attorney, a representative of the attorney, or a member of the clergy. In addition, correctional facilities are required to allow inmates to have contact visits with approved visitors and may only impose reasonable conditions necessary for safety and security within the correctional facility. Finally, correctional facilities are required to implement reasonable visiting hours for both contact visits and video visitation.

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Shirley Turner (D)*, 

Senate Law and Public Safety Hearing (19:00 5/8/2017 ) (on 05/08/2017)