SENATE LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE, No. 1778

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: MARCH 3, 1997

 

      The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1778.

      This bill prohibits the receipt, distribution and exhibition of "sexually oriented material" in the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center, the State's correctional facility for the incarceration and treatment of sex offenders. The majority of offenders in this facility have been incarcerated there for offenses against minors or for incest.

      The bill provides for the removal and destruction of sexually oriented material, subject to appeal by the inmate. "Sexually oriented material" is defined in the bill as any description, narrative account, display or depiction of sexual activity or associated anatomical area contained in, or consisting of, a picture or other representation, publication, sound recording, live performance or film.

      Currently, N.J.A.C.10A:18-4.9 permits the withholding of in the mailroom, or removal from the inmate's possession, publications which fall into numerous categories, including one patterned closely on the statutory definition of "obscene material." Under this bill, a person receiving, distributing or exhibiting sexually oriented material, which encompasses a broader category of items than obscene material, would be subject to on-the-spot sanctions under current departmental regulations (N.J.A.C.10A:4-7.3) for minor violations, including verbal reprimand, loss of recreation privileges for up to five days, up to four hours of extra work duty, loss of radio or television privileges for up to five days, confiscation or all of these sanctions.

      The bill further provides that a person within the center who (1) sells or offers for sale sexually oriented material either for purposes of possession or viewing or (2) receives, possesses, distributes or exhibits any text, photograph, film, video or any other reproduction or reconstruction which depicts a person under 18 engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such an act as defined in section 2 of P.L.1992, c.7 (C.2A:30B-2) commits an inmate prohibited act. The inmate would be subject to disciplinary action under the department's Schedule of Sanctions for Prohibited Acts in subsection (b) of N.J.A.C.10A:4-5.1. Some of these sanctions include up to 15 days disciplinary detention, loss of institutional privileges for up to 30 days, up to 60 days loss of commutation time, administrative segregation up to 90 days and loss of furlough privileges.

      This bill is identical to Assembly Bill No. 1779, which also was released by the committee on this date.