Bill Text: NY A00876 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires the commissioner of corrections and community supervision to establish a staffing plan for all uniformed and non-uniformed employees; further requires adequate staffing at correctional facilities.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to correction [A00876 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A00876-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 876 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 6, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. JONES, GOTTFRIED, GUNTHER, MONTESANO, DiPIETRO, COOK, B. MILLER, MANKTELOW -- read once and referred to the Committee on Correction AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to adequate staffing at correctional facilities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 112 of the correction law, as amended by section 19 2 of subpart A of part C of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011 and subdivision 3 5 as added by chapter 211 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as 4 follows: 5 § 112. Powers and duties of commissioner relating to correctional 6 facilities and community supervision. 1. The commissioner [of7corrections and community supervision] shall have the superintendence, 8 management and control of the correctional facilities in the department 9 and of the inmates confined therein, and of all matters relating to the 10 government, discipline, policing, contracts and fiscal concerns thereof. 11 He or she shall have the responsibility to ensure that adequate staffing 12 exists at every correctional facility pursuant to subdivision three of 13 this section. He or she shall have the power and it shall be his or her 14 duty to inquire into all matters connected with said correctional facil- 15 ities. He or she shall make such rules and regulations, not in conflict 16 with the statutes of this state, for the government of the officers and 17 other employees of the department assigned to said facilities, and in 18 regard to the duties to be performed by them, and for the government and 19 discipline of each correctional facility, as he or she may deem proper, 20 and shall cause such rules and regulations to be recorded by the super- 21 intendent of the facility, and a copy thereof to be furnished to each 22 employee assigned to the facility. He or she shall also prescribe a 23 system of accounts and records to be kept at each correctional facility, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05432-01-1A. 876 2 1 which system shall be uniform at all of said facilities, and he or she 2 shall also make rules and regulations for a record of photographs and 3 other means of identifying each inmate received into said facilities. He 4 or she shall appoint and remove, subject to the civil service law and 5 rules, subordinate officers and other employees of the department who 6 are assigned to correctional facilities. 7 2. The commissioner shall have the management and control of persons 8 released on community supervision and of all matters relating to such 9 persons' effective reentry into the community, as well as all contracts 10 and fiscal concerns thereof. The commissioner shall have the power and 11 it shall be his or her duty to inquire into all matters connected with 12 said community supervision. The commissioner shall make such rules and 13 regulations, not in conflict with the statutes of this state, for the 14 governance of the officers and other employees of the department 15 assigned to said community supervision, and in regard to the duties to 16 be performed by them, as he or she deems proper and shall cause such 17 rules and regulations to be furnished to each employee assigned to 18 perform community supervision. The commissioner shall also prescribe a 19 system of accounts and records to be kept, which shall be uniform. The 20 commissioner shall also make rules and regulations for a record of 21 photographs and other means of identifying each inmate released to 22 community supervision. The commissioner shall appoint officers and other 23 employees of the department who are assigned to perform community super- 24 vision. 25 3. The commissioner shall establish a staffing plan for all uniformed 26 and non-uniformed employees. With regard to uniformed staff, the commis- 27 sioner shall establish a staffing plan which shall include, but not be 28 limited to, the following factors: 29 (a) The number of total security posts that must be staffed by 30 correction officers and correctional sergeants by correctional facility. 31 These posts shall be delineated by those that are necessary five days 32 per week and seven days per week. 33 (b) The staffing plan shall require that every post be staffed using a 34 ratio of at least 1.75 correction officers for every seven day post and 35 a ratio of at least 1.25 correction officers for each five day post. 36 Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to authorize a reduction in 37 the ratio of officers in facilities which already maintain a ratio of at 38 least 1.75 officers and 1.25 officers for seven day posts and five day 39 posts, respectively. 40 (c) The commissioner shall provide a copy of such staffing plan to the 41 chairs of the senate finance, senate crime victims, crime and 42 correction, assembly ways and means and assembly correction committees 43 by December thirty-first of each year. Such report shall also provide 44 detailed information regarding how the staffing plan was implemented 45 during the current fiscal year. This information shall include: 46 (i) the number of correction officers and sergeants by correctional 47 facility that the staffing plan required as well as the actual number of 48 correction officers and sergeants that were available by correctional 49 facility during the current fiscal year. In the event the department 50 deviated from the staffing plan, the commissioner shall provide details 51 on why the staffing plan was not implemented as required pursuant to 52 this section; 53 (ii) the number of posts included in the staffing plan for each facil- 54 ity that have been closed on a daily basis, by correctional facility 55 security classification (minimum, medium and maximum);A. 876 3 1 (iii) the number of security positions not filled and those elimi- 2 nated, by correctional facility since two thousand one compared to the 3 number of inmates incarcerated in each such facility; and 4 (iv) a breakdown by correctional facility security classification 5 (minimum, medium, and maximum) of the staff hours of overtime worked, by 6 year since two thousand one and the annual aggregate costs related to 7 this overtime. In addition, such report shall be delineated by correc- 8 tional facility security classification, the annual number of security 9 positions eliminated, the number of closed posts and amount of staff 10 hours of overtime accrued as well as the overall overtime expenditures 11 that resulted. 12 4. The commissioner may require reports from the superintendent or any 13 other officer or employee of the department assigned to any correctional 14 facility or to perform community supervision in relation to his or her 15 conduct as such officer or employee, and shall have the power to inquire 16 into any improper conduct which may be alleged to have been committed by 17 any person at any correctional facility or in the course of his or her 18 performance of community supervision, and for that purpose to issue 19 subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses, and the production 20 before him or her of books, writings and papers. A subpoena issued under 21 this section shall be regulated by the civil practice law and rules. 22 [4.] 5. The commissioner and the chair of the parole board shall work 23 jointly to develop and implement, as soon as practicable, a risk and 24 needs assessment instrument or instruments, which shall be empirically 25 validated, that would be administered to inmates upon reception into a 26 correctional facility, and throughout their incarceration and release to 27 community supervision, to facilitate appropriate programming both during 28 an inmate's incarceration and community supervision, and designed to 29 facilitate the successful integration of inmates into the community. 30 [5.] 6. (a) The commissioner shall not make or promulgate any policy 31 and/or regulation requiring an inmate to waive any religious right, 32 including, but not limited to, daily prayer as a condition for partic- 33 ipation in any inmate program including any such program developed 34 and/or implemented pursuant to subdivision four of this section includ- 35 ing, but not limited to, the shock program and the industrial training 36 program. 37 (b) Upon request, inmates shall be granted exemptions for activities, 38 including jobs, that coincide with the Sabbath and other work 39 proscription days, including those set forth in the religious calendar. 40 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
