N.Y. Correction Law § 112: Powers and duties of commissioner relating to correctional facilities and community supervision

§ 112. Powers and duties of commissioner relating to correctional

facilities and community supervision. 1. The commissioner of corrections

and community supervision shall have the superintendence, management and

control of the correctional facilities in the department and of the

incarcerated individuals confined therein, and of all matters relating

to the government, discipline, policing, contracts and fiscal concerns

thereof. He or she shall have the power and it shall be his or her duty

to inquire into all matters connected with said correctional facilities.

He or she shall make such rules and regulations, not in conflict with

the statutes of this state, for the government of the officers and other

employees of the department assigned to said facilities, and in regard

to the duties to be performed by them, and for the government and

discipline of each correctional facility, as he or she may deem proper,

and shall cause such rules and regulations to be recorded by the

superintendent of the facility, and a copy thereof to be furnished to

each employee assigned to the facility. He or she shall also prescribe a

system of accounts and records to be kept at each correctional facility,

which system shall be uniform at all of said facilities, and he or she

shall also make rules and regulations for a record of photographs and

other means of identifying each incarcerated individual received into

said facilities. He or she shall appoint and remove, subject to the

civil service law, subordinate officers and other employees of the

department who are assigned to correctional facilities.

2. The commissioner shall have the management and control of persons

released on community supervision and of all matters relating to such

persons' effective reentry into the community, as well as all contracts

and fiscal concerns thereof. The commissioner shall have the power and

it shall be his or her duty to inquire into all matters connected with

said community supervision. The commissioner shall make such rules and

regulations, not in conflict with the statutes of this state, for the

governance of the officers and other employees of the department

assigned to said community supervision, and in regard to the duties to

be performed by them, as he or she deems proper and shall cause such

rules and regulations to be furnished to each employee assigned to

perform community supervision. The commissioner shall also prescribe a

system of accounts and records to be kept, which shall be uniform. The

commissioner shall also make rules and regulations for a record of

photographs and other means of identifying each incarcerated individual

released to community supervision. The commissioner shall appoint

officers and other employees of the department who are assigned to

perform community supervision.

3. The commissioner may require reports from the superintendent or any

other officer or employee of the department assigned to any correctional

facility or to perform community supervision in relation to his or her

conduct as such officer or employee, and shall have the power to inquire

into any improper conduct which may be alleged to have been committed by

any person at any correctional facility or in the course of his or her

performance of community supervision, and for that purpose to issue

subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses, and the production

before him or her of books, writings and papers. A subpoena issued under

this section shall be regulated by the civil practice law and rules.

4. The commissioner and the chair of the parole board shall work

jointly to develop and implement, as soon as practicable, a risk and

needs assessment instrument or instruments, which shall be empirically

validated, that would be administered to incarcerated individuals upon

reception into a correctional facility, and throughout their

incarceration and release to community supervision, to facilitate

appropriate programming both during an incarcerated individual's

incarceration and community supervision, and designed to facilitate the

successful integration of incarcerated individuals into the community.

5. (a) The commissioner shall not make or promulgate any policy and/or

regulation requiring an incarcerated individual to waive any religious

right, including, but not limited to, daily prayer as a condition for

participation in any incarcerated individual program including any such

program developed and/or implemented pursuant to subdivision four of

this section including, but not limited to, the shock program and the

industrial training program.

(b) Upon request, incarcerated individuals shall be granted exemptions

for activities, including jobs, that coincide with the Sabbath and other

work proscription days, including those set forth in the religious

calendar.

6. (a) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to

establish and maintain an annual heat mitigation plan to ensure

incarcerated individuals and correctional facility staff have options

available to stay cool, hydrated and safe during high heat temperatures.

Such plan shall include, to the extent possible:

(i) access to industrial fans, water, ice, and additional access to

showers;

(ii) commissaries fully stocked with personal fans prior to the

beginning of summer;

(iii) monitoring temperatures in housing, program and industry areas;

(iv) maintaining a list of incarcerated individuals and correctional

facility staff who have medical conditions that make them more

susceptible to heat and monitor their well-being;

(v) increased rounds and wellness checks; and

(vi) providing shade on exercise yards if consistent with the

facility's safety and security protocols.

(b) The commissioner, as part of such heat mitigation plan, shall

evaluate the financial and operational feasibility of establishing

cooling stations and a permanent sustainable cooling solution at each

facility, provided that upon a determination or finding that a permanent

sustainable cooling solution is feasible in each facility, the

commissioner shall develop a timeline to implement the findings of such

evaluation.

7. (a) For the purposes of this subdivision the following terms shall

have the following meanings:

(i) "Substantiated allegation" means an allegation that was

investigated and determined to have occurred. An allegation is

determined to have occurred based on a preponderance of the evidence;

(ii) "Unfounded allegation" means an allegation that was investigated

and determined not to have occurred;

(iii) "Unsubstantiated allegation" means an allegation that was

investigated and the investigation produced insufficient evidence to

make a final determination as to whether or not the event occurred.

(b) The commissioner shall collect data from the office of special

investigations established by the department and report quarterly to the

speaker of the assembly, the temporary president of the senate, and the

governor regarding complaints received the previous quarter by the

office. For the report period, such data and report shall include, but

not be limited to:

(i) the number of substantiated, unsubstantiated, and unfounded

allegations received by the office of special investigations categorized

by location of the alleged incident, complaint type or allegation,

subject of the allegation (i.e. incarcerated individual, security staff,

civilian staff, or other), and how the allegation was received by the

office;

(ii) the total number of complaints: assigned for an investigation by

the office of special investigations; assigned to each division or unit

within the office of special investigations; referred to the appropriate

central office division head; referred to a facility superintendent or

community supervision bureau chief for investigation; referred to a

facility superintendent or community supervision bureau chief for other

appropriate action; and referred to a state, local, or federal agency

with jurisdiction. Such data shall include the location of the alleged

incident and the complaint type or allegation;

(iii) the total number of investigations closed by each office of

special investigations unit or division within the reporting time

period;

(iv) the total number of referrals for criminal prosecution. Such data

shall include the location of the alleged incident, the complaint type

or allegation, and the subject of the allegation (i.e. incarcerated

individual, security staff, civilian staff, or other);

(v) the total number of referrals to the department's bureau of labor

relations for consideration of employee disciplinary charges including

the location of the alleged incident; and

(vi) office of special investigations staffing data including the

total number of staff, position type, and number of open positions.

(c) The commissioner shall report annually the average length of time

to close an investigation by the office of special investigation by

division for each correctional facility and any recommendations made by

the office of special investigations to the relevant departmental

program areas for consideration of a revision to a policy or procedure.

Such report shall categorize such recommendations by facility, the

nature of the recommendation, and any action taken in response to the

recommendation.