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New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Correction Law § 623 (2026)

Incarcerated individual telephone services

✓ current as of May 2026
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§ 623. Incarcerated individual telephone services. 1. Telephone
services contracts for incarcerated individuals in state correctional
facilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions as set forth
in article eleven of the state finance law provided, however, that when
determining the best value of such telephone service, the lowest
possible cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized.
  2. The department shall make available either a "prepaid" or "collect
call" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service. Under the
"prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into an account in order to pay
for station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this subdivision
shall require the department to provide or administer a prepaid system.
Under a "collect call" system, call recipients are billed for the cost
of an accepted telephone call initiated by an incarcerated individual.
Under such "collect call" system, the provider of incarcerated
individual telephone service, as an additional means of payment, must
permit the recipient of incarcerated individual calls to establish an
account with such provider in order to deposit funds to pay for such
collect calls in advance.
  3. The department shall not accept or receive revenue in excess of its
reasonable operating cost for establishing and administering such
telephone system services as provided in subdivisions one and two of
this section.
  4. The department shall establish rules and regulations or
departmental procedures to ensure that any incarcerated individual phone
call system established by this section provides reasonable security
measures to preserve the safety and security of each correctional
facility, all staff and all persons outside a facility who may receive
incarcerated individual phone calls.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 2007–2010 · leading case: Walton v. New York State Dep't of Corr. Servs., 921 N.E.2d 145 (N.Y. 2009).
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Walton v. New York State Dep't of Corr. Servs., 921 N.E.2d 145 (N.Y. 2009). · cites it 4× “The Legislature also acted, adopting Correction Law § 623 which, effective April 1, 2008, made it unlawful for DOCS to accept or receive revenue in excess of its reasonable operating costs for administering an inmate calling system ( see L 2007, ch 240).”
Walton v. New York State Dep't of Corr. Servs., 57 A.D.3d 1180 (N.Y. App. Div. 2008). “Moreover, DOCS has now been prohibited by statute from collecting revenue in excess of its reasonable operating costs (see Correction Law § 623 [3]) and, thus, petitioners’ request for prospective injunctive relief is now moot (see Byrd v Goord, 2007 WL 2789505 , 2007 US Dist…”
Global Tellink v. State of New York Dep't of Corr. Servs., 70 A.D.3d 1157 (N.Y. App. Div. 2010). “In determining the best value for inmate telephone services, Correction Law § 623 (1) mandates that “the lowest possible cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized.”
Walton v. New York State Dep't of Corr. Servs., 18 Misc. 3d 775 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2007). “Before embarking on a discussion of the instant motion, the court hastens to point out that, effective April 1, 2008, it will be unlawful for the Department of Correctional Services to accept or receive revenue in excess of its reasonable operating cost for establishing and…”
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