Vermont Statutes Title 28 Sec. 802a
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 28 Sec. 802a
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Corrections. See
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- facility: means any building, enclosure, space, or structure of or supported by the Department and used for the confinement of persons committed to the custody of the Commissioner, or for any other matter related to such confinement. See
- Inmate: means any person, not a child, committed to the custody of the Commissioner pursuant to the law of the State and subsequently committed to a correctional facility and any person confined at a correctional facility during the pendency of a prosecution against him or her. See
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
§ 802a. Telephone use; debit and collect call systems
(a) Upon admittance to a correctional facility, the inmate shall within 24 hours be allowed access to a telephone for outgoing telephone calls at the expense of the inmate.
(b) An inmate shall be allowed easy access in placing collect telephone calls upon admission to a correctional facility under reasonable conditions determined by the Commissioner, unless the inmate has been prohibited under provisions of section 853 of this title regarding punishment for a breach of the rules and regulations of the correctional facility in which an inmate is confined.
(c) When an inmate requests and receives a list of parties approved to receive telephone calls, the inmate shall be provided the option of using a debit or collect call system to place such calls. Under the debit system, the inmate shall pay for telephone service at the time of use, and the cost of such service will be automatically deducted from an account maintained by the inmate for that purpose.
(d) Any contract to provide telephone services to inmates in State correctional facilities shall be negotiated and awarded in a manner that provides for the lowest reasonable cost to inmates, to their families, and to others communicating with inmates. (Added 1995, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 50, eff. May 22, 1996; amended 2001, No. 61, § 79, eff. June 16, 2001.)