Who Pays for an Out‑of‑State Legal Videoconference Involving a Person at Bayside State Prison?
When a legal videoconference involves someone at Bayside State Prison and an agency in another state, two questions come up fast: who sets it up, and who pays? Here's how NJDOC handles it, based on who's requesting the VTC and the person's custody status.
When an out-of-state agency wants to videoconference with a New Jersey state inmate at Bayside State Prison, that agency handles everything. They initiate the call and cover the costs. For family members, this is helpful to know - the "next step" sits with the court, agency, or attorney's office in the other state requesting the appearance. Not with you, and not with the incarcerated person.
- ✓ Ask the requesting out-of-state agency to contact Donna Sweeney-Elrose at 609-984-9598 to confirm there are no conflicts with New Jersey’s Interstate Compact Agreement.
- ✓ After that confirmation is given, have the requesting agency submit the videoconference request through the institution’s videoconference coordinator.
When the request goes the other direction - a New Jersey agency requesting a videoconference with an out-of-state agency - the NJDOC-sponsored agency initiates the call. If you're trying to figure out who owns the scheduling on the New Jersey side, look to the agency making the request.
The same rule applies when the person isn't a New Jersey state-sentenced inmate. If an out-of-state agency requests a videoconference with a non-state inmate at Bayside, they initiate the call and cover the expenses.
Things get more complicated when a New Jersey agency wants to videoconference with a non-state inmate. In that case, the requesting New Jersey agency must contact NJDOC's Video Teleconferencing Program Manager (Frank Gonzalez) for case-by-case approval.
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- ✓ Ask the requesting agency directly: “Will you be initiating the videoconference call, and are you covering the VTC expenses?”
- ✓ If the request is coming from out of state and involves a New Jersey state inmate, ask them to confirm they’ve checked for Interstate Compact conflicts by contacting Donna Sweeney-Elrose at 609-984-9598.
- ✓ Once that confirmation is in place, ask the requesting agency to follow through by making the request through the institution’s videoconference coordinator.
Note: If the person is a non-state inmate, the process can change. A New Jersey agency may need case-by-case approval through NJDOC’s Video Teleconferencing Program Manager (Frank Gonzalez).
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