WORKING DRAFT — Correctional Communication Fairness Act
STATUS: WORKING DRAFT — NOT INTRODUCED LEGISLATION
This document is a public working draft prepared for discussion and review. It has not been introduced in the Montana Legislature and has not been reviewed by Montana Legislative Services Division. Language, statutory placement, enforcement provisions, and fiscal effects remain subject to revision.
Correctional Communication Fairness Act
Purpose. Families and incarcerated people should not be charged for correctional telephone or video communication services that fail to provide a usable connection, and correctional agencies should require measurable quality and complaint standards in provider contracts.
Section 1. Short title.
This act may be cited as the “Correctional Communication Fairness Act.”
Section 2. Service-quality standards.
A detention center or correctional facility contracting for paid telephone or video communication services shall require the provider to maintain reasonable service-quality standards.
A paid communication is considered substantially unusable when the connection terminates because of a system or provider failure before meaningful communication occurs; persistent echo, delay, distortion, or loss of audio prevents ordinary conversation; a video connection fails to provide usable audio or video for a substantial portion of the paid session; or the provider’s system disconnects the communication without fault of the incarcerated person or recipient.
Section 3. Credits and refunds.
- A customer may not be charged for a paid call or session that fails before connection to the intended recipient.
- When a paid communication is substantially unusable because of provider or system failure, the provider shall automatically issue a credit when the failure is detectable by its system or provide a simple process for requesting a credit or refund.
- A provider may not require the customer to prove technical facts already contained within the provider’s own connection records.
- Approved credits must be returned to the account or original payment method within a reasonable period.
Section 4. Complaint tracking.
Providers shall maintain records of failed connections, dropped calls, refund or credit requests, disposition of complaints, and recurring facility-level service issues. Facilities shall receive periodic aggregate reports.
Section 5. Contract requirements.
A state or local correctional agency may not enter or renew a communications contract unless the contract includes measurable service standards, credit/refund procedures, customer complaint procedures, uptime reporting, accessibility requirements, and a prohibition against charging for communications that never successfully connect.
Section 6. Enforcement.
Violation of these requirements may constitute grounds for contractual remedies, withholding payment, nonrenewal, or other enforcement authorized by law.
Current-law context: Montana already regulates certain telecommunications charges in county detention centers. This draft is intended to build on existing law by focusing on service quality, unusable paid communications, complaint handling, and contract accountability.