N.Y. Correction Law § 170: Contracts prohibited

§ 170. Contracts prohibited. 1. The commissioner shall not, nor shall

any other authority whatsoever, make any contract by which the labor or

time of any incarcerated individual in any state or local correctional

facility in this state, or the product or profit of his or her work,

shall be contracted, let, farmed out, given or sold to any person, firm,

association or corporation; except that the incarcerated individuals in

said correctional institutions may work for, and the products of their

labor may be disposed of to, the state or any political subdivision

thereof, any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the

state, or any political subdivision thereof, provided that no

incarcerated individual shall be employed or assigned to engage in any

activity that involves obtaining access to, collecting or processing

social security account numbers of other individuals.

2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it shall be lawful for

an incarcerated individual of the department to work in an institution

of the department in the manufacture and production of goods, including

but not limited to, license plates, identification plates and insignia

for vehicles, and for the department to sell or otherwise dispose of for

profit such goods to the government of the United States or to any state

of the United States, or political subdivision thereof, or any public

corporation or eleemosynary association or corporation funded in whole

or in part by any federal, state or local funds.

3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an incarcerated

individual may be permitted to leave the institution under guard to

voluntarily perform work for a nonprofit organization. As used in this

section, the term "nonprofit organization" means an organization

operated exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes,

no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any

private shareholder or individual.