Requires that an inmate who has appeared before the board of parole prior to having completed any program required by the department of corrections and community supervision, and has been denied release, shall be immediately placed into the required program.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6353B
SPONSOR: Weprin TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the correction law and the executive
law, in relation to enrolling inmates into programs
PURPOSE:
This bill provides that inmates will be placed in required programs as
soon as possible and, if denied parole release because they have not
finished such programs, be prioritized for immediate placement into such
program
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Correction Law § 137.
Section 2 amends Executive Law § 259-1 (1).
Section 3 provides an effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The Board of Parole generally sees an inmate four months before his or
her parole eligibility date to make a determination about whether or not
the inmate should be released to community supervision or should remain
in prison. Currently DOCCS waits until an inmate is close to his or her
earliest release date to place him or her in required programs, such as
alcohol and substance abuse treatment or anger management. DOCCS gener-
ally times such placement so an inmate can complete any required
programs before his or her first possible release date, but not neces-
sarily before his or her first appearance before the Board of Parole.
That means that some inmates see the board for the first time during
their programs instead of after their programs are completed, causing
the board to turn them down for parole release. Other times an inmate is
not placed in a required program because he or she has first board
appearance scheduled before the program would be completed; in these
cases the inmate appears before the board never having taken the program
at all. In many cases, inmates eligible for an Earned Certificate of
Eligibility end up appearing before the board "non-certified" meaning
without having completed his or her programs. In each of these cases,
the board typically denies release and reschedules the inmate for a
reappearance interview, usually twenty-four months later. This bill
would mandate that all inmates be placed in programs as soon as possible
and that those inmates who appear before the board without having
completed their programs, and who are denied release, are prioritized
for immediate placement into the necessary program.1
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Will save the state money by making the parole determination process
more efficient and causing fewer people to be held past their earliest
release dates because they have not yet completed their required
programs.
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6353--B
Cal. No. 233
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 3, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, BLAKE, SEPULVEDA, WALKER -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Correction -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee -- reported from committee, advanced to a third reading, amended
and ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order of third read-
ing
AN ACT to amend the correction law and the executive law, in relation to
enrolling inmates into programs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 137 of the correction law, as
2 added by chapter 476 of the laws of 1970, is amended to read as follows:
3 1. The commissioner shall establish program and classification proce-
4 dures designed to assure the complete study of the background and condi-
5 tion of each inmate in the care or custody of the department and the
6 assignment of such inmate to a program that is most likely to be useful
7 in assisting him to refrain from future violations of the law. Such
8 procedures shall be incorporated into the rules and regulations of the
9 department and shall require among other things: consideration of the
10 physical, mental and emotional condition of the inmate; consideration of
11 his educational and vocational needs; enrollment of each inmate in
12 assigned programs as soon as practicable; consideration of the danger he
13 presents to the community or to other inmates; the recording of contin-
14 uous case histories including notations as to apparent success or fail-
15 ure of treatment employed; and periodic review of case histories and
16 treatment methods used.
17 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 259-l of the executive law, as amended
18 by section 38-j of subpart A of part C of chapter 62 of the laws of
19 2011, is amended to read as follows:
20 1. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of corrections and commu-
21 nity supervision to [insure] ensure that all officers and employees of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10378-07-7
A. 6353--B 2
1 the department shall at all times cooperate with the board of parole and
2 shall furnish to such members of the board and employees of the board
3 such information as may be appropriate to enable them to perform their
4 independent decision making functions. It is also his or her duty to
5 ensure that the functions of the board of parole are not hampered in any
6 way, including but not limited to: a restriction of resources including
7 staff assistance; limited access to vital information; and presentation
8 of inmate information in a manner that may inappropriately influence the
9 board in its decision making. Where an inmate has appeared before the
10 board prior to having completed any program assigned by the department,
11 and where the board has denied such inmate release pursuant to paragraph
12 (a) of subdivision two of section two hundred fifty-nine-i of this arti-
13 cle, the department shall prioritize such inmate's immediate placement
14 into the assigned program.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
