Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 22 - CORRECTIONS, CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT › Part I - Corrections › Chapter 3 - Adult Services › Subchapter A - General › Section I-315 - Telephone Use and Policy on Monitoring of Calls

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. Purpose-to state the secretary's policy
				  regarding the use of telephones by offenders and the monitoring of offender
				  telephone calls at all adult institutions.
B. Applicability-Deputy Secretary, Chief of
				  Operations, Regional Wardens and Wardens. Each warden is responsible for
				  ensuring that appropriate unit written policy and procedures are in place to
				  comply with the provisions of this regulation and for implementing and
				  notifying all affected persons of its contents.
C. Policy. It is the secretary's policy that
				  uniform telephone procedures, including the ability to monitor and/or record
				  offender telephone calls to preserve the security and orderly management of the
				  institution and to protect public safety, shall be adhered to at all
				  institutions. Each institution shall offer offenders (including the hearing
				  and/or speech impaired) reasonable access to telephone communication without
				  overtaxing the institution's ability to properly maintain security and to avoid
				  abuse of this privilege on the part of any offender. Offenders with hearing
				  and/or speech disabilities and offenders who wish to communicate with parties
				  who have such disabilities shall be given access to appropriate auxiliary aids
				  and services. It is further the secretary's policy to encourage offenders to
				  maintain telephone communications while incarcerated in order to maintain
				  family connections that will promote unification upon release.
D. Procedures
1. General
a. Each offender shall be assigned a personal
				  identification number (PIN) which must be used when placing outgoing telephone
				  calls. The PIN shall be the offender's DOC number.
b. Each offender may provide his assigned
				  institution a master list of up to 20 frequently called telephone numbers
				  inclusive of all family, personal, and legal calls. Each offender's outgoing
				  telephone calls shall be limited to those telephone numbers he has placed on
				  his master list. Changes may be made to the master list at the discretion of
				  the warden or designee, but no less than once each quarter. These changes may
				  be entered by the contractor or by appropriately trained institutional staff.
				  No offender shall place the telephone number of the family of another offender
				  on his master list except for verified members of his own family.
c. For new offenders, PIN and master list
				  numbers shall be entered into the telephone system upon intake at the reception
				  and diagnostic centers.
d. All
				  offender telephone calls made through use of the offender telephone system
				  shall be recorded and are subject to monitoring. This may include calls made to
				  attorneys using the offender telephone system. (See Clause D.6.a.iii for
				  additional information.)
e. A
				  visible sign by each offender telephone shall place offenders on notice that
				  all calls shall be recorded and are subject to monitoring.
f. A recorded message shall notify all
				  parties that all calls shall be recorded and are subject to monitoring and that
				  the call originated from a correctional facility.
g. Use of the offender telephone system shall
				  constitute consent by all parties to the recording and/or monitoring of the
				  call.
h. Upon the request of a
				  telephone subscriber, the institution shall block a telephone number and
				  prevent the subscriber from receiving calls from an offender housed in the
				  facility. To accomplish a block of a particular number for all state
				  facilities, the institution should contact the contractor to request that a
				  universal block be put into place.
i. Offenders are allowed to make collect
				  calls to cell phones. These calls must be set up as direct remit accounts with
				  the department's phone service provider. This shall be done after approval is
				  received from the department to add the cell number. Prepaid cell phones are
				  not permitted to set up direct bill accounts. Cell phones must have a provider
				  from a major wireless company i.e., AT and T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile,
				  etc.
j. Disciplinary sanctions may
				  include certain restrictions on phone privileges; however, all offenders shall
				  be allowed two collect calls per month. Loss of phone privileges shall only be
				  a permissible sanction where the rule violation is directly related to the use
				  of telephone privileges.
k. Any
				  offender placed in segregation shall be allowed one phone call (either at the
				  offender's expense or via a collect call) within 24 hours of placement into a
				  segregation housing unit, including offenders who have lost their phone
				  privileges as a separate disciplinary sanction.