103 CMR 482.06 - Institution Procedures for Inmate Telephone Access and Use
(1)
General. Each
Superintendent shall develop procedures to insure that inmates have access to
telephones. Access should be regulated in such a manner as to provide for the
orderly and safe use of telephones by inmates.
(2)
Inmate Telephone
Use. Each Superintendent shall make arrangements to have an
adequate number of inmate telephones available for inmate use. Institution
business telephones shall not be used for inmate telephone contact except in
emergency or unusual situations (e.g., seriously ill family
member or oral arguments for Court hearings) and then only with the permission
of the Superintendent or a designee. Outgoing telephone calls only shall be
allowed, subject to the conditions authorized by
103 CMR
482.00.
(3)
Inmate Telephone
Restrictions.
(a) Inmate
telephone calls shall be placed as either a collect call or a pre-paid debit
call, all utilizing an automated operator. A transfer of money from personal
funds to a debit phone account must be done prior to making debit calls. All
international calls shall be debit calls.
(b) Direct dialed calls, three way or
conference calling and calls to 411, 800, 900, 550, 976 or other multiple long
distance carriers are prohibited, except upon the approval of the
Commissioner.
(c) Inmates may be
allowed a total of 15 telephone numbers authorized for use in conjunction with
the inmate's PIN. Five of these numbers shall be reserved for attorney
telephone numbers.
(d) All inmate
telephone calls, except calls to pre-authorized attorney telephone numbers, a
foreign national's pre-authorized telephone number for his or her consular
officer or diplomat, pre-authorized clergy telephone numbers and pre-authorized
licensed psychologist, social worker and/or mental health professional
telephone numbers are subject to telephone monitoring.
(e) All inmate telephone calls are subject to
duration limits, or other restrictions such as authorized calling hours as
determined by procedures developed by the Superintendent of each
institution.
(f) All inmate
telephone calls require positive call acceptance by the called party prior to
the call being connected. Passive acceptance of inmate calls may be allowed
with the approval of the Deputy Commissioner of the Prison Division, Director
of Administrative Services, or Superintendent. The telephone system shall use a
pre-recorded name to announce who the call is from.
(g) All inmate telephone calls to the North
American Dialing Plan shall contain a prerecorded announcement identifying that
the collect call is originating from an inmate at a Massachusetts Department of
Correction (institution) shall indicate that the call is subject to being
recorded, and shall indicate that any attempt to access a three-party line or
conference call will cause the system to immediately disconnect the call. This
announcement may be played at various intervals during all telephone calls
subject to monitoring and/or recording. (h) An inmate's telephone privileges,
with the exception of attorney telephone calls or a foreign national's call to
his or her consular officer or diplomat, may be suspended or curtailed pending
either disciplinary action, administrative action, or as part of a disciplinary
sanction.
(4)
Suspension of Inmate Telephone Use. A Superintendent
or a designee may suspend telephone usage by the inmate population on an
emergency basis when, in the Superintendent's opinion, telephone use by the
entire inmate population presents a threat to the institution's security. After
24 hours, the Superintendent or designee, if necessary, shall authorize a
continuation of the suspension of telephone use, to be reviewed every 24 hours
thereafter and reauthorized as necessary.
(5)
International Debit
Calling. Inmates shall be allowed to call five international
numbers in addition to the ten personal numbers that can be called
collect/debit. International debit calling is permitted to areas where North
American Dialing Plan collect calls cannot be completed. Prior to placing any
international calls, the inmate must complete an Inmate International Debit
Request Form to transfer money from his/her personal account to a debit account
for the purpose of placing an international telephone call. The inmate is
responsible to pay for the call prior to the call being completed.
(6)
Commissions. All
Commissions received that are derived from inmate calling shall be returned to
the General Fund of the Commonwealth. This shall be done on a monthly basis by
the Director of Administrative Services.
(7) Reports detailing all receipts and
expenditures of inmate telephone commissions shall be kept on file by the
Director of Administrative Services.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.