Bill Text: NY S02949 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-02-13 - REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE [S02949 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S02949-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          2949
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 18, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen. RITCHIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims,  Crime  and
          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, 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 three 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.
                                                                   LBD05026-02-7
        S. 2949                             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.
    23    3. The commissioner shall establish a staffing plan for all  uniformed
    24  and non-uniformed employees. With regard to uniformed staff, the commis-
    25  sioner  shall  establish a staffing plan which shall include, but not be
    26  limited to, the following factors:
    27    (a) The number of  total  security  posts  that  must  be  staffed  by
    28  correction officers and correctional sergeants by correctional facility.
    29  These  posts  shall  be delineated by those that are necessary five days
    30  per week and seven days per week.
    31    (b) The staffing plan shall require that every post be staffed using a
    32  ratio of 1.75 correction officers for every seven day post and  a  ratio
    33  of 1.25 correction officers for each five day post.
    34    (c) The commissioner shall provide a copy of such staffing plan to the
    35  chairs   of   the  senate  finance,  senate  crime  victims,  crime  and
    36  correction, assembly ways and means and assembly  correction  committees
    37  by  December  thirty-first  of each year. Such report shall also provide
    38  detailed information regarding how the  staffing  plan  was  implemented
    39  during the current fiscal year. This information shall include:
    40    (i)  the  number  of correction officers and sergeants by correctional
    41  facility that the staffing plan required as well as the actual number of
    42  correction officers and sergeants that were  available  by  correctional
    43  facility  during  the  current  fiscal year. In the event the department
    44  deviated from the staffing plan, the commissioner shall provide  details
    45  on  why  the  staffing  plan was not implemented as required pursuant to
    46  this section;
    47    (ii) the number of posts included in the staffing plan for each facil-
    48  ity that have been closed on a daily  basis,  by  correctional  facility
    49  security classification (minimum, medium and maximum);
    50    (iii)  the  number  of  security positions not filled and those elimi-
    51  nated, by correctional facility since two thousand one compared  to  the
    52  number of inmates incarcerated in each such facility; and
    53    (iv)  a  breakdown  by  correctional  facility security classification
    54  (minimum, medium, and maximum) of the staff hours of overtime worked, by
    55  year since two thousand one and the annual aggregate  costs  related  to
    56  this  overtime.  In addition, such report shall be delineated by correc-
        S. 2949                             3
     1  tional facility security classification, the annual number  of  security
     2  positions  eliminated,  the  number  of closed posts and amount of staff
     3  hours of overtime accrued as well as the overall  overtime  expenditures
     4  that resulted.
     5    4. The commissioner may require reports from the superintendent or any
     6  other officer or employee of the department assigned to any correctional
     7  facility  or  to perform community supervision in relation to his or her
     8  conduct as such officer or employee, and shall have the power to inquire
     9  into any improper conduct which may be alleged to have been committed by
    10  any person at any correctional facility or in the course of his  or  her
    11  performance  of  community  supervision,  and  for that purpose to issue
    12  subpoenas to compel the attendance  of  witnesses,  and  the  production
    13  before him or her of books, writings and papers. A subpoena issued under
    14  this section shall be regulated by the civil practice law and rules.
    15    [4.]  5. The commissioner and the chair of the parole board shall work
    16  jointly to develop and implement, as soon as  practicable,  a  risk  and
    17  needs  assessment  instrument or instruments, which shall be empirically
    18  validated, that would be administered to inmates upon reception  into  a
    19  correctional facility, and throughout their incarceration and release to
    20  community supervision, to facilitate appropriate programming both during
    21  an  inmate's  incarceration  and  community supervision, and designed to
    22  facilitate the successful integration of inmates into the community.
    23    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided,  however,  that
    24  effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule
    25  or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effec-
    26  tive  date  is  authorized  and  directed to be made and completed on or
    27  before such effective date.