This bill (S 4160) requires state correctional facilities to provide free voice communication services (like phone calls) to incarcerated individuals, with no cost to the person initiating or receiving the call. It prohibits state agencies from charging fees or generating revenue from these communication services and mandates that in-person visit programs remain available - digital services cannot replace them. The law repeals an existing correction law section and takes effect April 1, 2026, applying to new or renewed communication contracts after that date. It directly affects incarcerated people in state prisons and youth detention centers by guaranteeing free access to basic voice communication.
Prohibits employees of the department of corrections and community supervision or a correctional facility from willfully obstructing, blocking or otherwise obscuring a body-worn or stationary camera from recording activities within a correctional facility for the purpose of hindering an existing or potential investigation, concealing a crime or criminal activity, or concealing otherwise unlawful behavior.
Provides assistance to incarcerated individuals being released from correctional facilities for enrollment in safety net assistance, public assistance, supplemental assistance program (SNAP), special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children (WIC), the home energy assistance program (HEAP), supplemental security income, and state supplemental payments.
Relates to the department of correction and community supervision's role with respect to discharge planning to assist incarcerated individuals in obtaining housing before release to community supervision.
Requires rates paid for rehabilitation and opioid treatment be pursuant to certain fee schedules published by the office of addiction services and supports.
Provides immunity from prosecution for certain individuals engaged in prostitution who are victims of or witnesses to a crime and who report such crime or assist in the investigation or prosecution.
Requires each appropriate institution housing a defendant due to mental disease or defect to assign a critical time intervention care management team to the defendant and make a single point of access referral for the defendant prior to such defendant's discharge.
Enacts the "Lieutenant Joseph Banish mental health act" which establishes a law enforcement peer support program to provide confidentiality for communications arising out of law enforcement peer support counseling; defines terms; provides exceptions for when a peer support communication may be disclosed.
Requires police officers to receive training instruction for crimes involving sexual assaults; requires training for child protective services workers in certain instances.
This bill allows criminal cases in counties outside cities with over one million residents to be transferred to specialized mental health courts in neighboring counties. It requires the defendant's motion, consent from both district attorneys, and excludes family violence cases where the accused and victim are family members. The transfer cannot take effect for five days unless the receiving court agrees to accept the case earlier. This creates a formal process for connecting defendants with treatment-focused courts in adjacent jurisdictions.
