Incarcerated persons: communications.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not mention any impact on probation officers managing juvenile facilities, so this claim was removed.

Inmates' Communication and Hygiene Rights

This law requires prisons to provide free electronic messaging services, ensures indigent inmates receive basic hygiene products without charge or debt accumulation, and prevents staff from disconnecting calls based on duration if an inmate is authorized to use a device.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to offer free electronic messaging services for inmates.
• Prohibits prison staff from disconnecting voice communications solely because a call has lasted too long if an inmate is allowed to use a device like a tablet.
• Guarantees that indigent inmates receive basic hygiene products without charge or debt accumulation.
• Forbids denying hygiene products as punishment for disciplinary reasons.
• Requires any existing debts related to hygiene products before January 1, 2026, be forgiven.

Who It Names or Affects

• Inmates in state prisons and county jails.
• Staff at correctional facilities who manage inmate communications and hygiene supplies.

Terms To Know

Indigent

A person with very little money, unable to afford basic necessities.

Inmate trust account

An account where inmates can deposit and manage their personal funds while incarcerated.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the new requirements will be funded.
• It is unclear what specific electronic messaging services will be provided to inmates.

Official Summary Text

SB 498, as amended, Becker.
County detention: juvenile facilities: commissary.
Incarcerated persons: communications.
Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may, during that period of confinement, be deprived only of those rights as are reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide inmates with accessible, functional voice communication services free of charge to the person initiating and the person receiving the communication.
This bill would additionally require the department to provide inmates electronic messaging services as described above. The bill would prohibit staff at a department facility, if an incarcerated individual is authorized to possess and use a tablet or other device for voice
communications, from disconnecting any communications conducted by the individual on the device based solely on the duration of the call.
Existing law requires that an inmate in a state prison who has maintained an inmate trust account with $25 or less for 30 consecutive days be deemed indigent and requires that an inmate who is indigent receive, among other things, basic supplies necessary for maintaining personal hygiene.
Existing law allows the sheriff of each county to operate a store in connection with the county jail, and authorizes the chief probation officer of each county to operate a store in connection with the juvenile hall or other county juvenile facilities, to sell confectionary, postage and writing materials, and toilet articles and supplies to wards and
juvenile detainees. Existing law also provides that all youth confined in juvenile facilities have specified rights, including, among others, the right to receive adequate personal hygiene items.
This bill would require that indigent wards or detainees be provided basic hygiene products free of charge and require that those individuals have guaranteed access to hygiene products, upon their request. The bill would prohibit an indigent ward or detainee from being denied access to hygiene products as a disciplinary measure. The bill would prohibit debt from being accrued as a result of the provision of hygiene products to indigent
wards or detainees and would require any debt accrued for the provision of hygiene products prior to January 1, 2026, to be discharged. By expanding the duties of probation officers, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF