New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 10A - CORRECTIONS › Chapter 18 - MAIL, VISITS AND TELEPHONE › Subchapter 2 - CORRESPONDENCE › Section 10A:18-2.14 - Disapproved correspondence and electronic correspondence

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Any correspondence for an inmate may be withheld in the mail room or taken from an inmate's possession by the correctional facility Administrator, designee, or custody staff if it falls within one of the following categories:
1. The correspondence contains material, which is detrimental to the security and/or order of the correctional facility because it incites violence based upon race, religion, creed or nationality and a reasonable inference can be drawn, based upon the experience and professional expertise of correctional administrators, that it may result in the outbreak of violence within the facility;
2. The correspondence contains information on the following subjects that, based upon the experience and professional expertise of correctional administrators and custody staff and judged in the context of a correctional facility and its paramount interest in security, order and rehabilitation, is detrimental to the secure and orderly operation of the correctional facility:
i. Explosives;
ii. Weapons;
iii. Controlled dangerous substances;
iv. Escape plans;
v. Lock picking or locking devices;
vi. Depictions or descriptions of procedures for the brewing of alcoholic beverages, or the manufacture of drugs; or
vii. Anything that might pose a threat to the safety, security or orderly operation of the correctional facility;
3. The correspondence contains information which appears to be written in code;
4. The correspondence contains information concerning activities within or outside the correctional facility which would be subject to criminal prosecution under the laws of New Jersey or the United States;
5. The correspondence incites violence or destructive or disruptive behavior toward:
i. Law enforcement officers;
ii. Department of Corrections or contract vendor personnel;
iii. Correctional facility inmates, visitors and/or volunteers; or
iv. Correctional facility protocols, programs, or procedures;
6. The correspondence contains material, which, based upon the experience and professional expertise of correctional administrators and judged in the context of a correctional facility and its paramount interest in maintaining safety, security, order, and rehabilitation:
i. Taken as a whole, appeals to a prurient interest in sex;
ii. Lacks, as a whole, serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value;
iii. Depicts, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct, including patently offensive representations or descriptions of ultimate sexual acts, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, child pornography, sadism, bestiality, masochism, extreme close-up photos, any touching, manipulation, spreading, or opening of the genitals or buttocks (any gender), pornography, or sexually explicit material; or
iv. Security threat group (STG) references or indicators;
7. Inmates shall not agree to, and shall not authorize or encourage any third-party to:
i. Use the electronic correspondence service to transmit any content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent, obscene, or is otherwise objectionable as reasonably determined by the custody officer;
ii. Transmit any content that infringes upon another party's intellectual property rights or other proprietary, contractual, or fiduciary rights or obligations;
iii. Prevent others from using the electronic correspondence service;
iv. Use the electronic correspondence service for any fraudulent or inappropriate purpose; or
v. Act in any way that violates, or is a violation of prohibited acts at N.J.A.C. 10A:4-1.1 or the Inmate Handbook policies;
8. Violation of any of the rules regarding correspondence or electronic correspondence may result in non-delivery of the correspondence or electronic correspondence and/or attachment, emails, e-photos, and/or e-videos. The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) reserves the right to investigate an individual's use of the electronic correspondence system in order to determine whether a violation has occurred or to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request (see N.J.A.C. 10A:18-6.6(i)); and
9. The NJDOC reserves the right to access, read, preserve, and disclose any information as it reasonably believes is necessary to:
i. Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud or security issues (including, without limitation, the filtering of messages and attachments);
ii. Satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request;
iii. Enforce this chapter, including investigation of potential violations thereof;
iv. Respond to user support requests; and
v. Protect the rights, property, or safety of the vendor and the facilities.