Authorizes the use of body imaging scanning equipment in local correctional facilities for the screening of visitors and staff in addition to incarcerated individuals.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8990A
SPONSOR: Weprin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the use of body
imaging scanning equipment in local correctional facilities
PURPOSE:
Would permit the non-medical use of low dosage ionizing radiation on
Incarcerated individuals, employees and visitors in local correctional
facilities.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends section 3502 of the public health law by adding a new
subdivision 6. Sets forth regulations.
Section 2: Amends section 3502 of the public health law. Section 3:
Sets effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Correctional facilities across the state are experiencing an epidemic of
slashings by incarcerated individuals who obtain ceramic craft blades as
contraband. The blades, which are widely sold to fit into small Exacto
knives or comparable cutting tools, are easily hidden on the body or in
clothing and are not found by metal detectors. They are small enough to
avoid detection during a pat frisk but large enough to inflict consider-
able damage on other incarcerated. NYC DOC has been unable to stop the
slashings, in part because it does not have any reliable way to find the
blades short of full body cavity strip searches, an invasive and time-
consuming method that is not practical or desirable on a daily or
routine basis.
The NYC Department of Correction obtained five used TSA ionizing radi-
ation body scanners, formerly employed in major airports around the
country, to scan incarcerated individuals for contraband. The TSA
stopped using them in most large airports because of passenger privacy
concerns and switched to a different kind of non-ionizing scanner that
can only detect larger objects, like guns and bomb-making equipment, but
that cannot detect small items like the ceramic blades. The ionizing
body scanners were effective in finding contraband hidden in incarcerat-
ed individuals' bodies or in their clothing, including ceramic blades.
Several other county jails in the state also purchased ionizing body
scanners from the TSA. The NYC Board of Correction, which currently
includes two medical doctors known for their advocacy of prisoner
rights, strongly supports the use of the body scanners to ensure the
safety of staff and incarcerated individuals.
Besides ceramic blades, the body scanners can detect weapons made of
titanium and plastic which cannot be easily found in pat frisks and are
undetectable by magnometers.
During the period when the body scanners were in operation, the use of
the scanners appeared to act as a deterrent, discouraging incarcerated
individuals from carrying weapons of any kind. In 2014, the State
Commission of Correction halted the use of ionizing radiation body scan-
ners in jails because State public health law only permits exposure to
such radiation for medical purposes by licensed radiation technicians.
In order to resume the use of the body scanners in correctional
settings, a change of public health law was needed.
There is a small risk of cancer from exposure to ionizing radiation.
The scanners are banned in the EU because of the associated cancer risk.
The TSA and industry groups maintain that the scanners are safe, emit-
ting less radiation than is experienced in approximately 10 minutes of
commercial air flight. However, because any radiation exposure is poten-
tially dangerous, this bill includes oversight of correctional usage of
body scanners by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene or, for
counties outside of New York City, the State Department of Health to
make sure that individual adult incarcerated individual exposure is
minimal, that adolescents cents are only exposed to radiation under
exceptional circumstances and that pregnant women are excluded from
scanning.
Exposure to additional ionizing radiation should be taken seriously
given the high rates of cancer experienced in this country. However, in
light of the endemic violence at correctional facilities across NYS and
the increasing use of ceramic blades as weapons among the incarcerated
individual population, it is important to safeguard staff and incarcer-
ated individuals from the immediate and widespread threat of slashing,
as opposed to a remote and unlikely threat of cancer caused by such body
scanners, particularly since jail incarcerated individuals are only in
the correctional setting for relatively short periods of time and there-
fore should not be subject to long term radiation exposure.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Senate
2022: S9611, Referred to Rules Assembly
2022: A10465, Referred to Correction
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided however that the amend-
ments to subdivision 6 of section 3502 of the public health law made by
section one and two of this act shall not affect the repeal of such
subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith. Effective immediate-
ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8990--A
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Correction -- recommitted to the Committee on Correction in accord-
ance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the use of body
imaging scanning equipment in local correctional facilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (a) of subdivi-
2 sion 6 of section 3502 of the public health law, as amended by section 1
3 of part LL of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, are amended to read as
4 follows:
5 (ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any other
6 provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, licensed practi-
7 tioners, persons licensed under this article and unlicensed personnel
8 employed at a state or local correctional facility may, in a manner
9 permitted by the regulations promulgated pursuant to this subdivision,
10 utilize body imaging scanning equipment that applies ionizing radiation
11 to humans for purposes of screening individuals detained in, committed
12 to, visiting, or employed in such facility, in connection with the
13 implementation of such facility's security program.
14 (iii) The utilization of such body imaging scanning equipment shall be
15 in accordance with regulations promulgated by the department, or for
16 local correctional facilities in cities having a population of two
17 million or more, such utilization shall be in accordance with regu-
18 lations promulgated by the New York city department of health and mental
19 hygiene. The state commission of correction, in consultation with the
20 department of corrections and community supervision, shall promulgate
21 regulations establishing when body imaging scanning equipment will be
22 used to screen visitors and incarcerated individuals in state or local
23 correctional facilities. Such regulations shall include provisions
24 establishing that alternative methods of screening may be used to accom-
25 modate individuals who decline or are unable to be screened by body
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01611-03-4
A. 8990--A 2
1 imaging scanning equipment for medical reasons and that alternative
2 methods of screening may be used to accommodate individuals who decline
3 to be screened for other reasons, unless security considerations warrant
4 otherwise. Such regulations shall also ensure that no person shall be
5 subjected to any form of harassment, intimidation, or disciplinary
6 action for choosing to be searched by an alternative method of screening
7 in lieu of body imaging scanning.
8 The department of corrections and community supervision shall promul-
9 gate regulations establishing when body imaging scanning equipment will
10 be used to screen employees of the department of corrections and commu-
11 nity supervision, provided, however that such regulations shall be
12 consistent with the policies and procedures of the department of
13 corrections and community supervision governing the search of employees.
14 Such regulations shall include provisions establishing that alternative
15 methods of screening may be used to accommodate individuals who decline
16 or are unable to be screened by body imaging scanning equipment for
17 medical or other reasons. Such regulations shall also ensure that no
18 person shall be subjected to any form of harassment, intimidation, or
19 disciplinary action for choosing to be searched by an alternative method
20 of screening in lieu of body imaging scanning. An employee's request to
21 be searched by an alternative method of screening in lieu of body imag-
22 ing scanning shall not, in itself, be grounds for disciplinary action
23 against such employee.
24 § 2. Subparagraph (i) of paragraph (f) of subdivision 6 of section
25 3502 of the public health law, as amended by section 1 of part LL of
26 chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
27 (i) For local correctional facilities, the number of times the equip-
28 ment was used on [incarcerated] individuals [upon intake, after visits,]
29 detained in, committed to, working in, or visiting the facility upon
30 intake, before work shift, after work shift, before visits, after
31 visits, and upon the suspicion of contraband, as well as any other event
32 that triggers the use of such equipment, and the average, median, and
33 highest number of times the equipment was used on any [incarcerated]
34 individual detained in, committed to, working in, or visiting the facil-
35 ity, with corresponding exposure levels; and
36 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however, that
37 the amendments to subdivision 6 of section 3502 of the public health law
38 made by sections one and two of this act shall not affect the repeal
39 of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith. Effective
40 immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regu-
41 lation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective
42 date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective
43 date.
