§15A-3-11. Unauthorized use of uniform, badge, identification card, or other insignia; impersonation of member; and penalty.

(a) The commissioner shall prescribe the design, or designs, of uniforms used by employees of the division, which shall be dissimilar to the design of the uniform worn by the members of the State Police or the established statewide uniform of a sheriff or deputy sheriffs. A municipality shall not adopt for its police officers or other employees a uniform which is similar in design to the uniform adopted by the commissioner.

(b) No person who is not an officer or employee of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and no officer or employee of the division who is not authorized to do so, may, with intent to deceive, wear, use, order to be used or worn, copy, or imitate in any respect or manner the uniform, badge, identification card, or other insignia prescribed for employees of the division.

(c) No person who is not an officer or employee of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation may falsely represent himself or herself to be an officer or employee of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation or to be under the order or direction of any officer or employee of the division.

(d) No person employed as an officer or employee of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation may use his or her position as such to threaten or coerce any other person in order to receive any favoritism, employment, or thing of favor by virtue of his or her employment with the division: Provided, That this subsection does not apply to violations of the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

(e) Any person who violates the provisions of §15A-3-11(b), §15A-3-11(c), or §15A-3-11(d) of this code is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $200, or confined in the county or regional jail for not more than six months, or both fined and confined.