§ 14-258.1.  Furnishing poison, controlled substances, deadly weapons, cartridges, ammunition or alcoholic beverages to inmates of charitable, mental or penal institutions or local confinement facilities; furnishing tobacco products including vapor products; or furnishing mobile phones to inmates or delinquent juveniles.

(a) If any person shall give or sell to any inmate of any charitable, mental or penal institution, or local confinement facility, or if any person shall combine, confederate, conspire, aid, abet, solicit, urge, investigate, counsel, advise, encourage, attempt to procure, or procure another or others to give or sell to any inmate of any charitable, mental or penal institution, or local confinement facility, any deadly weapon, or any cartridge or ammunition for firearms of any kind, or any controlled substances included in Schedules I through VI contained in Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes except under the general supervision of a practitioner, poison or poisonous substance, except upon the prescription of a physician, he shall be punished as a Class H felon; and if he be an officer or employee of any institution of the State, or of any local confinement facility, he shall be dismissed from his position or office.

(b) Any person who shall knowingly give or sell any alcoholic beverages to any inmate of any State mental or penal institution, or to any inmate of any local confinement facility, except for medical purposes as prescribed by a duly licensed physician and except for an ordained minister or rabbi who gives sacramental wine to an inmate as part of a religious service; or any person who shall combine, confederate, conspire, procure, or procure another or others to give or sell any alcoholic beverages to any inmate of any such State institution or local confinement facility, except for medical purposes as prescribed by a duly licensed physician and except for an ordained minister or rabbi who gives sacramental wine to an inmate as part of a religious service; or any person who shall bring into the buildings, grounds or other facilities of such institution any alcoholic beverages, except for medical purposes as prescribed by a duly licensed physician or sacramental wine brought by an ordained minister or rabbi for use as part of a religious service, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. If such person is an officer or employee of any institution of the State, such person shall be dismissed from office.

(c) Any person who knowingly gives or sells any tobacco products, including vapor products, as defined in G.S. 148-23.1, to an inmate in the custody of the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction and on the premises of a correctional facility or to an inmate in the custody of a local confinement facility, or any person who knowingly gives or sells any tobacco products, including vapor products, to a person who is not an inmate for delivery to an inmate in the custody of the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction and on the premises of a correctional facility or to an inmate in the custody of a local confinement facility, other than for authorized religious purposes, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

(d) Any person who knowingly gives or sells a mobile telephone or other wireless communications device, or a component of one of those devices, to an inmate in the custody of the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction, to a delinquent juvenile in the custody of the Division of Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety, or to an inmate in the custody of a local confinement facility, or any person who knowingly gives or sells any such device or component to a person who is not an inmate or delinquent juvenile for delivery to an inmate or delinquent juvenile, is guilty of a Class H felony. For purposes of this subsection, a delinquent juvenile in the custody of the Division of Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety shall mean a juvenile confined in a youth development center or a detention facility as defined in G.S. 7B-1501, and shall include transportation of a juvenile to or from confinement.

(e) Any inmate of a local confinement facility who possesses any tobacco product, as defined in G.S. 148-23.1, other than for authorized religious purposes, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

(f) Notwithstanding subsection (c) of this section, local confinement facilities may give or sell vapor products or FDA-approved tobacco cessation products, such as over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies, including nicotine gum, patches, and lozenges, to inmates while in the custody of the local confinement facility.

(g) Any inmate in the custody of the Department of Adult Correction or an inmate of a local confinement facility who possesses a mobile telephone or other wireless communication device or a component of one of those devices is guilty of a Class H felony.

(h) The prohibitions in subsections (d) and (g) of this section shall not apply to any mobile telephone or other wireless communications device provided to or possessed by an inmate of a facility operated by the Department of Adult Correction or an inmate of a local confinement facility if the mobile telephone or other wireless communications device has been approved by the Department of Adult Correction or the sheriff or other person in charge of a local confinement facility for use by inmates and is provided to the inmate in a manner consistent with the approved use of that device. (1961, c. 394, s. 2; 1969, c. 970, s. 6; 1971, c. 929; 1973, c. 1093; 1975, c. 804, ss. 1, 2; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1; c. 179, s. 14; c. 412, s. 4; c. 747, s. 66; 1989, c. 106; 1993, c. 539, s. 160; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2009-560, s. 3; 2011-145, s. 19.1(h); 2014-3, s. 15.2(b); 2014-115, s. 23(a); 2014-119, s. 5(a); 2015-47, s. 1; 2017-186, s. 2(dd); 2020-74, s. 26(a); 2021-180, s. 19C.9(p), (z); 2023-121, s. 16(a).)