[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 129 (Tuesday, July 7, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 38658-38660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16637]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Bureau of Prisons
28 CFR Part 506
[BOP Docket No. 1156-P]
RIN 1120-ABXX
Inmate Commissary Account Deposit Procedures
AGENCY: Bureau of Prisons, Justice.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Bureau of Prisons (Bureau) proposes to
amend its regulations on inmate commissary account deposit procedures
and requirements to provide clarification. Specifically, the amendments
will clarify that, regardless of the form or method of the deposit (by
mail or electronic deposit), the Bureau is authorized to obtain
transaction information about the sender, and the sender is required to
provide such information to the Bureau and its authorized service
providers if the sender seeks to deposit funds in an inmate's
commissary account.
DATES: Comments must be received by September 8, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Rules Unit, Office of General Counsel,
Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street NW., Washington, DC 20534.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah Qureshi, Office of General
Counsel, Bureau of Prisons, phone (202) 307-2105, email
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Posting of Public Comments
Please note that all comments received are considered part of the
public record and made available for public inspection online at
www.regulations.gov. Such information includes personal identifying
information (such as your name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by
the commenter.
If you want to submit personal identifying information (such as
your name, address, etc.) as part of your comment, but do not want it
to be posted online, you must include the phrase ``PERSONAL IDENTIFYING
INFORMATION'' in the first paragraph of your comment. You must also
locate all the personal identifying information you do not want posted
online in the first paragraph of your comment and identify what
information you want redacted.
If you want to submit confidential business information as part of
your comment but do not want it to be posted online, you must include
the phrase ``CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION'' in the first paragraph
of your comment. You must also prominently identify confidential
business information to be redacted within the comment. If a comment
contains so much confidential business information that it cannot be
effectively redacted, all or part of that comment may not be posted on
www.regulations.gov.
Personal identifying information identified and located as set
forth above will be placed in the agency's public docket file, but not
posted online. Confidential business information identified and located
as set forth above will not be placed in the public docket file. If you
wish to inspect the agency's public docket file in person by
appointment, please see the ``For Further Information Contact''
paragraph.
The Proposed Rule: The Bureau proposes to amend and clarify its
inmate commissary account regulations, published on July 2, 2004 (69 FR
40315). The proposed revisions are explained below.
Section 506.1 Purpose
In this regulation, we reiterate the purpose of the inmate
commissary account deposit program, as stated in the current
regulation. We also state that the Bureau operates and maintains
individual inmate commissary accounts in a manner that preserves the
safety, security, and good order of Bureau institutions, and protects
the public.
Section 506.2 Methods of depositing funds into an inmate commissary
account
In this regulation, the Bureau clarifies that funds from family,
friends, or other sources, may be deposited into an inmate commissary
account by mail or electronic deposit. Subparagraph (a) simply
paraphrases language in current Sec. 506.2(a).
Subparagraph (b) allows for electronic deposits, which may be sent
from persons in the community through service providers (for example, a
financial institution as defined in 31 U.S.C. 5312(a)(2), bank, money
service business, or money service provider or processor), and
forwarded to the individual inmate's commissary account, as authorized
and directed by the Bureau.
Section 506.3 Consent to collection and use of sender's transactional
and personal identification data
This regulation will clarify that persons sending or depositing, or
attempting to send or deposit, funds to an inmate's commissary account
under this subpart are required to provide all related transactional
data, including the sender's personal identification information, to
(1) the Bureau; and (2) the service provider(s) (for example, a
financial institution, bank, money service business, or money service
provider or processor) in accordance with the provisions of its
agreement for providing service to the Bureau.
System of records BOP-006, Inmate Trust Fund Accounts and
Commissary Record System, currently authorizes the Bureau to collect
``personal identification data for persons who send or receive funds
to/from inmates. This regulation serves to put the public on notice
that such data will be collected whenever funds are sent or attempted
to be sent to an inmate, regardless of the form of the deposit.
This regulation will also clarify that by sending or depositing, or
attempting to send or deposit, funds to an inmate's commissary account
under this subpart, a person consents to the collection, review, use,
disclosure, and retention of, all related transactional data, including
the sender's personal identification information, by both (1) the
Bureau, pursuant to the applicable Privacy Act system(s) of records;
and (2) the service provider in accordance with the provisions of its
agreement for providing service to the Bureau.
This rule is in compliance with the Right to Financial Privacy Act,
12 U.S.C.
[[Page 38659]]
3401 et seq. (the RFPA), which allows federal agencies to have access
to or obtain copies of the financial records of any customer from a
financial institution only if the financial records are reasonably
described and . . . the financial records are disclosed in response to
a formal written request which meets certain notice and other technical
requirements. 12 U.S.C. 3402(5).
RFPA provides that a financial institution cannot release a
customer's financial records unless and until the federal government
authority seeking the records certifies in writing to the financial
institution that the authority has complied with the applicable
provisions of the RFPA or unless the release of such records falls
within one of the RFPA's delineated exceptions.
The Bureau allows transfers into inmate accounts via the use of
``money transmitters,'' or ``monetary service'' providers which do not
qualify as ``financial institutions'' under the RFPA. Except as
provided in Section 3414 of the RFPA (which allows for disclosures in
connection with terrorism investigations and other exigent
circumstances), a ``financial institution'' means ``any office of a
bank, savings bank, card issuer as defined in section 1602(n) of Title
15 [of the United States Code], industrial loan company, trust company,
savings association, building and loan, or homestead association
(including cooperative banks), credit union or consumer finance
institution located in any State or territory of the United States,
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, or the Virgin
Islands.'' 12 U.S.C. 3401(1).
The ``monetary service'' providers that facilitate outside deposits
into inmate accounts are not among the entities covered by the
definition of ``financial institution'' above. Therefore, such entities
are not ``financial institutions'' for purposes of the RFPA's general
restrictions on providing personally identifiable records to federal
government authorities.
Further, the legitimate law enforcement purpose for this rule is to
use transactional information of people who deposit funds into inmate
accounts in order to detect unlawful activity. Continuous and routine
deposits into an inmate's account, sometimes from fraudulent sources,
have been linked to unlawful conducting of a business by an inmate or
other inmate-involved unlawful activity, such as drug trafficking,
money laundering, fraudulent income tax returns, gambling, attempted
criminal assault, and other such unlawful activities. This rule is
intended to provide notice to those members of the public who deposit
funds into inmate accounts that their transactional information will be
retained for the purpose of detecting unlawful activity.
Executive Order 12866
The Director certifies that this rule is a ``significant regulatory
action'' under section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866 and therefore was
reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget for review.
Executive Order 13132
This regulation will not have substantial direct effects on the
States, on the relationship between the national government and the
States, or on distribution of power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government. Under Executive Order 13132, this rule
does not have sufficient federalism implications for which we would
prepare a Federalism Assessment.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Director of the Bureau of Prisons, under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), reviewed this regulation. By
approving it, the Director certifies that it will not have a
significant economic impact upon a substantial number of small entities
because: This rule is about the correctional management of offenders
committed to the custody of the Attorney General and the Director of
the Bureau of Prisons, and its economic impact is limited to the
Bureau's appropriated funds.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
This rule will not cause State, local and tribal governments, or
the private sector, to spend $100,000,000 or more in any one year, and
it will not significantly or uniquely affect small governments. We do
not need to take action under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
This rule is not a major rule as defined by section 804 of the
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. This rule
will not result in an annual effect on the economy of $100,000,000 or
more; a major increase in costs or prices; or significant adverse
effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity,
innovation, or on the ability of United States-based companies to
compete with foreign-based companies in domestic and export markets.
List of Subjects in 28 CFR Part 506
Prisoners.
L.C. Eichenlaub,
Deputy Director, Bureau of Prisons.
Under the rulemaking authority vested in the Attorney General in 5
U.S.C. 552(a) and delegated to the Director, Bureau of Prisons, we
propose to revise 28 CFR part 506 to read as follows:
PART 506--INMATE COMMISSARY ACCOUNT
Sec.
506.1 Purpose.
506.2 Methods of depositing funds into an inmate commissary account.
506.3 Consent to collection and use of sender's transactional and
personal identification data.
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 18 U.S.C. 3621, 3622, 3624, 4001, 4042,
4081, 4082 (Repealed in part as to offenses committed on or after
November 1, 1987), 5006-5024 (Repealed October 12, 1984 as to
offenses committed after that date), 5039; 28 U.S.C. 509, 510; 31
U.S.C. 1321.
Sec. 506.1 Purpose.
The purpose of this subpart is to describe the Bureau's operation
and maintenance of individual inmate commissary accounts in a manner
that preserves the safety, security, and good order of Bureau
institutions, and protects the public. Family, friends, or other
sources may send and deposit funds into these accounts, and inmates may
withdraw funds from these accounts, as authorized by the Bureau.
Sec. 506.2 Methods of depositing funds into an inmate commissary
account.
Family, friends, and other sources, (such as senders of tax
refunds, dividends from stocks, or state benefits) may send or deposit
funds into an inmate's commissary account by the following methods:
(a) By mail. Funds for deposit must be sent to the centralized
inmate commissary account address we provide. Deposits must be in the
form of a money order made out to the inmate's full name and complete
register number. Personal checks will be returned to the sender, if an
adequate return address is provided. The deposit envelope must not
contain any enclosure(s) intended for delivery to the inmate. Any such
enclosure(s) will be disposed.
(b) By electronic deposit. Electronic deposits of funds may be sent
from persons in the community through service providers (for example, a
financial institution, bank, money service business, or money service
provider or processor), and forwarded to
[[Page 38660]]
the individual inmate's commissary account, as authorized and directed
by the Bureau.
Sec. 506.3 Consent to collection and use of sender's transactional
and personal identification data.
Persons sending or depositing, or attempting to send or deposit,
funds to an inmate's commissary account under this subpart are required
to provide, and consent to the collection, review, use, disclosure, and
retention of, all related transactional data, including the sender's
personal identification information, to:
(a) The Bureau, pursuant to the applicable Privacy Act system(s) of
records; and
(b) The service provider(s) (for example, a financial institution,
bank, money service business, or money service provider or processor)
involved with the inmate commissary account program as authorized and
directed by the Bureau in accordance with its agreement for providing
service to the Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2015-16637 Filed 7-6-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-05-P