LB163 LB163
2023 2023
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 163
Introduced by McKinney, 11.
Read first time January 09, 2023
Committee: Judiciary
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to criminal justice; to amend sections
2 47-101.01, 47-108, 47-109, 47-116, 47-201.01, 47-206, 48-1202,
3 83-178, 83-917, and 83-960, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska,
4 and sections 28-936, 83-1,135, and 84-612, Revised Statutes
5 Cumulative Supplement, 2022; to prohibit construction or expansion
6 of prisons and jails until certain benchmarks are met; to provide
7 privacy protections for inmates' legal mail; to provide penalties;
8 to define and redefine terms; to change provisions relating to
9 possession of electronic communication devices in Department of
10 Correctional Services facilities; to authorize possession of such
11 devices by certain officials and attorneys as prescribed; to
12 prohibit cities, counties, and the state from receiving revenue for
13 operation of inmate telephone services and to provide requirements
14 for negotiating contracts for such services; to provide a limitation
15 on the mark-up of commissary goods in jails and prisons; to require
16 the department to pay the minimum wage for work by committed
17 offenders and to provide that such persons are subject to the Wage
18 and Hour Act; to require collection of certain data upon admission
19 of persons committed to the department; to require the department to
20 provide culturally diverse books as prescribed; to provide for
21 oversight of the department by the Judiciary Committee of the
22 Legislature in the event of a prison overcrowding emergency or
23 staffing shortage; to change provisions relating to the Reentry Cash
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1 Fund; to provide for transfers from the Cash Reserve Fund; to
2 harmonize provisions; and to repeal the original sections.
3 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. (1) For purposes of this section:
2 (a) Correctional facility means a facility for housing or detaining
3 committed offenders operated by the department; and
4 (b) Department means the Department of Correctional Services.
5 (2) The department or any other state agency shall not build new
6 correctional facilities, study or identify sites for a new correctional
7 facility, or expand or convert portions of an existing correctional
8 facility in order to expand capacity until the Legislature determines
9 that overall admissions and lengths of stay for all correctional
10 facilities have declined over a twenty-year period.
11 (3) A city, village, county, or other political subdivision of the
12 state shall not build a new jail, study or identify sites for a new jail,
13 or expand or convert portions of an existing jail in order to expand
14 capacity until the Legislature determines that overall admissions and
15 lengths of stay for inmates of such jurisdiction have declined over a
16 twenty-year period.
17 Sec. 2. (1) For purposes of this section:
18 (a) Contraband includes illegal items, explosives, deadly weapons,
19 alcoholic beverages, drugs, tobacco products, and controlled substances;
20 (b) Department means the Department of Correctional Services;
21 (c) Detention facility means any criminal detention facility as
22 defined in section 83-4,125 or a facility as defined in section 83-170;
23 (d) Director means, with reference to a department facility, the
24 Director of Correctional Services, and with reference to any other
25 detention facility, the director or head administrator of such facility;
26 (e) Legal mail means correspondence to or from courts or court
27 staff, attorneys, established groups of attorneys involved in the
28 representation of an inmate in judicial proceedings, the Public Counsel,
29 the President or Vice President of the United States, a member of the
30 United States Congress, any representative of an embassy or a consulate,
31 the United States Department of Justice, a state attorney general, a
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1 governor, any member of the Legislature, and any law enforcement officer
2 in his or her official capacity. To be considered legal mail, the
3 correspondence shall be clearly marked "legal mail" on the outside front
4 of the envelope and shall have a return address which clearly indicates
5 that the correspondence is from one of the sources enumerated in this
6 subdivision;
7 (f) Mail means letters, publications, or packages delivered to a
8 detention facility by the United States Postal Service or by another
9 established and authorized package or letter carrier; and
10 (g) Rules and regulations means, with reference to a department
11 facility, rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the
12 department, and with reference to any other detention facility, the
13 ordinances or rules of the political subdivision operating such detention
14 facility.
15 (2) All mail intended for, or to be sent by, an inmate of a
16 detention facility, excluding legal mail, may be inspected at any time by
17 the staff designated by the director. Mail, excluding legal mail, may be
18 disapproved for receipt or transmittal in accordance with applicable
19 rules and regulations.
20 (3) A person who inspects or participates in the inspection of the
21 mail of an inmate of a detention facility shall not disclose the contents
22 of the mail except in the course of such person's official duties.
23 (4) Mail, whether it is incoming or outgoing, which is clearly
24 identified on the outside as legal mail, shall be inspected only in the
25 presence of the inmate of a detention facility. Legal mail shall not be
26 read by any employee of a detention facility without a search warrant but
27 may be inspected in the presence of the inmate to verify that the mail is
28 free from contraband.
29 (5) Mail containing illegal items or contraband shall be held and
30 disposed of in accordance with the procedures set forth in rules and
31 regulations.
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1 (6)(a) An employee of a detention facility who knowingly violates
2 this section shall be guilty of a Class II misdemeanor and shall be
3 summarily discharged from employment with the detention facility.
4 (b) Any person who sends mail to an inmate in a detention facility
5 falsely identified as legal mail shall be guilty of a Class II
6 misdemeanor.
7 Sec. 3. Section 28-936, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
8 2022, is amended to read:
9 28-936 (1) A person commits an offense if he or she intentionally
10 introduces within a facility, or intentionally provides an inmate of a
11 facility with, any electronic communication device. An inmate commits an
12 offense if he or she intentionally procures, makes, or otherwise provides
13 himself or herself with, or has in his or her possession, any electronic
14 communication device.
15 (2) This section does not apply to:
16 (a) An attorney or an attorney's agent visiting an inmate who is a
17 client of such attorney;
18 (b) The Public Counsel or any employee of his or her office;
19 (c) A peace officer acting under his or her authority;
20 (d) An emergency responder or a firefighter responding to emergency
21 incidents within a facility; or
22 (e) A member of the Legislature;
23 (f) The Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System or any
24 employee of the office of the Inspector General of the Nebraska
25 Correctional System; or
26 (g) (e) Any person acting with the permission of the Director of
27 Correctional Services or in accordance with rules, regulations, or
28 policies of the Department of Correctional Services.
29 (3) For purposes of this section:
30 (a) Facility has the same meaning as in section 83-170; and
31 (b) Electronic communication device means any device which, in its
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1 ordinary and intended use, transmits by electronic means writings,
2 sounds, visual images, or data of any nature to another electronic
3 communication device. Electronic communication device does not include
4 any device provided to an inmate by the Department of Correctional
5 Services.
6 (4) A violation of this section is a Class I misdemeanor.
7 (5) An electronic communication device involved in a violation of
8 this section shall be subject to seizure by the Department of
9 Correctional Services or a peace officer, and disposition may be made in
10 accordance with the method of disposition directed for contraband in
11 sections 29-818 and 29-820.
12 Sec. 4. Section 47-101.01, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
13 amended to read:
14 47-101.01 (1) Each county jail shall make available either a prepaid
15 telephone call system or collect telephone call system, or a combination
16 thereof, for telephone services for inmates. Under either system, the
17 provision of inmate telephone services shall be subject to the
18 requirements of this section.
19 (2) Under a prepaid system, funds may be deposited into an inmate
20 account in order to pay for telephone calls. The provider of the inmate
21 telephone services, as an additional means of payment, shall permit the
22 recipient of inmate collect telephone calls to establish an account with
23 that provider in order to deposit funds for advance payment of those
24 collect telephone calls. The provider of the inmate telephone services
25 shall also allow inmates to communicate on the telephone, or by
26 videoconferencing, with an attorney or attorneys without charge and
27 without monitoring or recording by the county jail or law enforcement.
28 (3) For telephone calls, jails shall negotiate contracts with
29 telecommunication providers on the basis of providing the lowest possible
30 cost to inmates.
31 (4) (3) A county operating a county jail shall not may receive any
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1 revenue for the reasonable operating costs for establishing and
2 administering such telephone services system or videoconferencing
3 system. , but shall not receive excessive commissions or bonus payments.
4 In determining the amount of such reasonable operating costs, the Jail
5 Standards Board may consider for comparative purposes the rates for
6 inmate calling services provided in 47 C.F.R. part 64. Amounts in excess
7 of the reasonable operating costs include, but are not limited to, any
8 excessive commissions and bonus payments, as determined by the Jail
9 Standards Board, including, but not limited to, awards paid to a county
10 for contracting with an entity that provides such service.
11 (5) (4) Nothing in this section shall require a county jail to
12 provide or administer a prepaid telephone call system.
13 (6) (5) For the purposes of this section, collect telephone call
14 system means a system pursuant to which recipients are billed for the
15 cost of an accepted telephone call initiated by an inmate.
16 Sec. 5. Any goods sold in a commissary within a county jail shall
17 not be marked up more than ten percent over the cost to purchase such
18 goods.
19 Sec. 6. Section 47-108, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
20 amended to read:
21 47-108 It shall be the duty of the district court in its charge to
22 the grand jury to inform the jury of the provisions of sections 47-101 to
23 47-116 and section 5 of this act and all rules, plans, or regulations
24 established by the Jail Standards Board relating to county jails and
25 prison discipline.
26 Sec. 7. Section 47-109, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
27 amended to read:
28 47-109 The grand jury of each county in this state may, while in
29 attendance, visit the jail, examine its state and condition, and examine
30 and inquire into the discipline and treatment of prisoners, their habits,
31 diet, and accommodations. If the grand jury visits a jail, it shall be
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1 its duty to report to the court in writing, whether the rules of the Jail
2 Standards Board have been faithfully kept and observed, or whether any of
3 the provisions of sections 47-101 to 47-116 and section 5 of this act,
4 have been violated, pointing out particularly in what the violation, if
5 any, consists. It shall also be the duty of the county board of each
6 county of this state to visit the jail of its county once during each of
7 its sessions in January, April, July, and October of each year.
8 Sec. 8. Section 47-116, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
9 amended to read:
10 47-116 If the sheriff or jailer, having charge of any county jail,
11 shall neglect or refuse to conform to all or any of the rules and
12 regulations established by the Jail Standards Board, or to perform any
13 other duty required of him or her by sections 47-101 to 47-116 and
14 section 5 of this act, he or she shall, upon conviction thereof for each
15 case of such failure or neglect of duty, pay into the county treasury of
16 the proper county for the use of such county a fine of not less than five
17 dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, to be assessed by the district
18 court of the proper district.
19 Sec. 9. Section 47-201.01, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
20 amended to read:
21 47-201.01 (1) Each city jail shall make available either a prepaid
22 telephone call system or collect telephone call system, or a combination
23 thereof, for telephone services for inmates. Under either system, the
24 provision of inmate telephone services shall be subject to the
25 requirements of this section.
26 (2) Under a prepaid system, funds may be deposited into an inmate
27 account in order to pay for telephone calls. The provider of the inmate
28 telephone services, as an additional means of payment, shall permit the
29 recipient of inmate collect telephone calls to establish an account with
30 that provider in order to deposit funds for advance payment of those
31 collect telephone calls. The provider of the inmate telephone services
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1 shall also allow inmates to communicate on the telephone, or by
2 videoconferencing, with an attorney or attorneys without charge and
3 without monitoring or recording by the city jail or law enforcement.
4 (3) For telephone calls, jails shall nego