Bill Text: NY A04780 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the establishment of a staffing plan for all uniformed and non-uniformed employees at correctional facilities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 11-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-04 - held for consideration in correction [A04780 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A04780-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          4780
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 3, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. GIGLIO -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Correction
        AN  ACT  to  amend the correction law, in relation to establishment of a
          staffing plan for all uniformed and non-uniformed employees at correc-
          tional 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, is amended to
     3  read as follows:
     4    § 112. Powers and duties  of  commissioner  relating  to  correctional
     5  facilities   and   community   supervision.   1.  The  commissioner  [of
     6  corrections and community supervision] shall have  the  superintendence,
     7  management  and control of the correctional facilities in the department
     8  and of the inmates confined therein, and of all matters relating to  the
     9  government, discipline, policing, contracts and fiscal concerns thereof.
    10  He or she shall have the responsibility to ensure that adequate staffing
    11  exists  at  every  correctional  facility pursuant to subdivision two of
    12  this section. He or she shall have the power and it shall be his or  her
    13  duty to inquire into all matters connected with said correctional facil-
    14  ities.  He or she shall make such rules and regulations, not in conflict
    15  with the statutes of this state, for the government of the officers  and
    16  other  employees  of  the department assigned to said facilities, and in
    17  regard to the duties to be performed by them, and for the government and
    18  discipline of each correctional facility, as he or she may deem  proper,
    19  and  shall cause such rules and regulations to be recorded by the super-
    20  intendent of the facility, and a copy thereof to be  furnished  to  each
    21  employee  assigned  to  the  facility.  He or she shall also prescribe a
    22  system of accounts and records to be kept at each correctional facility,
    23  which system shall be uniform at all of said facilities, and he  or  she
    24  shall  also  make  rules and regulations for a record of photographs and
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07999-01-7
        A. 4780                             2
     1  other means of identifying each inmate received into said facilities. He
     2  or she shall appoint and remove, subject to the civil service  law  [and
     3  rules],  subordinate  officers and other employees of the department who
     4  are assigned to correctional facilities.
     5    2.  [The commissioner shall have the management and control of persons
     6  released on community supervision and of all matters  relating  to  such
     7  persons'  effective reentry into the community, as well as all contracts
     8  and fiscal concerns thereof. The commissioner shall have the  power  and
     9  it  shall  be his or her duty to inquire into all matters connected with
    10  said community supervision. The commissioner shall make such  rules  and
    11  regulations,  not  in  conflict with the statutes of this state, for the
    12  governance of  the  officers  and  other  employees  of  the  department
    13  assigned  to  said community supervision, and in regard to the duties to
    14  be performed by them, as he or she deems proper  and  shall  cause  such
    15  rules  and  regulations  to  be  furnished  to each employee assigned to
    16  perform community supervision. The commissioner shall also  prescribe  a
    17  system  of  accounts and records to be kept, which shall be uniform. The
    18  commissioner shall also make rules  and  regulations  for  a  record  of
    19  photographs  and  other  means  of  identifying  each inmate released to
    20  community supervision. The commissioner shall appoint officers and other
    21  employees of the department who are assigned to perform community super-
    22  vision.] The commissioner  shall  establish  a  staffing  plan  for  all
    23  uniformed  and  non-uniformed employees. With regard to uniformed staff,
    24  the commissioner shall establish a staffing plan  which  shall  include,
    25  but  not  be limited to, the number of total security posts that must be
    26  staffed by correction officers and correctional sergeants by correction-
    27  al facility. These posts shall be delineated by those that are necessary
    28  five days per week and seven days per  week.  The  staffing  plan  shall
    29  require that every post be staffed using a ratio of 1.8 correction offi-
    30  cers  for  every  seven day post and a ratio of 1.25 correction officers
    31  for each five day post. The commissioner shall provide a  copy  of  such
    32  staffing plan to the chairs of the senate finance, senate crime victims,
    33  crime  and  correction,  assembly ways and means and assembly correction
    34  committees by December thirty-first of each year. Such report shall also
    35  provide detailed information regarding how the staffing plan was  imple-
    36  mented  during the current fiscal year.  This information shall include:
    37  (a) the number of correction  officers  and  sergeants  by  correctional
    38  facility that the staffing plan required as well as the actual number of
    39  correction  officers  and  sergeants that were available by correctional
    40  facility during the current fiscal year.   In the event  the  department
    41  deviated  from the staffing plan, the commissioner shall provide details
    42  on why the staffing plan was not implemented  as  required  pursuant  to
    43  this  section; (b) the number of posts included in the staffing plan for
    44  each facility that have been closed on a daily  basis,  by  correctional
    45  facility  security classification (minimum, medium and maximum); (c) the
    46  number of security positions not filled and those eliminated, by correc-
    47  tional facility since two thousand one compared to the number of inmates
    48  incarcerated in each such facility; and (d) a breakdown by  correctional
    49  facility  security  classification (minimum, medium, and maximum) of the
    50  staff hours of overtime worked, by year since two thousand one  and  the
    51  annual  aggregate  costs  related  to  this  overtime. In addition, such
    52  report shall be delineated by correctional facility security classifica-
    53  tion, the annual number of security positions eliminated, the number  of
    54  closed  posts  and  amount of staff hours of overtime accrued as well as
    55  the overall overtime expenditures which resulted.
        A. 4780                             3
     1    3. The commissioner may require reports from the superintendent or any
     2  other officer or employee of the department assigned to any correctional
     3  facility or to perform community supervision in relation to his  or  her
     4  conduct as such officer or employee, and shall have the power to inquire
     5  into any improper conduct which may be alleged to have been committed by
     6  any  person  at any correctional facility or in the course of his or her
     7  performance of community supervision, and  for  that  purpose  to  issue
     8  subpoenas  to  compel  the  attendance  of witnesses, and the production
     9  before him or her of books, writings and papers. A subpoena issued under
    10  this section shall be regulated by the civil practice law and rules.
    11    4. The commissioner and the chair  of  the  parole  board  shall  work
    12  jointly  to  develop  and  implement, as soon as practicable, a risk and
    13  needs assessment instrument or instruments, which shall  be  empirically
    14  validated,  that  would be administered to inmates upon reception into a
    15  correctional facility, and throughout their incarceration and release to
    16  community supervision, to facilitate appropriate programming both during
    17  an inmate's incarceration and community  supervision,  and  designed  to
    18  facilitate the successful integration of inmates into the community.
    19    §  2.  This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
    20  effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule
    21  or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effec-
    22  tive date are authorized and directed to be made  and  completed  on  or
    23  before such effective date.