Corrections Law
§ 2. Definitions. When used in this chapter, unless otherwise
expressly stated or the context or subject matter otherwise requires,
the following terms have the following meanings:
1. "Department" means the state department of corrections and
community supervision;
2. "Commissioner" means the state commissioner of corrections and
community supervision;
3. "Commission" means the state commission of correction;
4. (a) "Correctional facility". Any place operated by the department
and designated by the commissioner as a place for the confinement of
persons under sentence of imprisonment or persons committed for failure
to pay a fine. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subdivision,
whenever reference has been or hereafter will be made in any statute,
judgment, sentence, commitment, court order or otherwise to a state
prison, state reformatory, reception center, diagnostic center or other
institution or facility in the department, such reference shall be
deemed to mean "correctional facility".
(b) The term "correctional facility" shall not, however, be deemed to
mean or to include any place operated by the department for the care and
confinement of persons who have been found to be mentally defective or
mentally ill by a court and who are confined in such place pursuant to
an order of a court based upon such finding.
(c) Whenever the term "institution" is used in this chapter or
elsewhere in such context as to mean an institution in the department,
such term shall be deemed to include correctional facilities and any
other place operated by the department as a place for the confinement of
persons.
5. "Reception center". A correctional facility for reception,
classification and program-planning for purposes of confinement,
treatment and transfer.
6. "Residential treatment facility". A correctional facility
consisting of a community based residence in or near a community where
employment, educational and training opportunities are readily available
for persons who are on parole or conditional release and for persons who
are or who will soon be eligible for release on parole who intend to
reside in or near that community when released.
7. "Detention center". A correctional facility for the temporary
detention of persons taken into custody upon violation of parole or upon
violation of a condition of release, or of persons being transferred
from other correctional facilities, or of persons who are assigned to
other correctional facilities for confinement but whose presence is
required in court or for some other purpose at a location that is
distant from the institution of confinement.
8. "Correctional Camp". A correctional facility consisting of a camp
maintained for the purpose of including conservation work in the program
of incarcerated individuals.
9. "Diagnostic and treatment center". A correctional facility operated
for the purpose of providing intensive physical, mental and sociological
diagnostic and treatment services including pre-parole diagnostic
evaluation, where requested by the board of parole, and scientific study
of the social and mental aspects of the causes of crime.
10. "General confinement facility". A correctional facility for
confinement and treatment of persons under institutional programs
oriented to education, vocational training and industry.
11. "Work release facility". A facility designated by the commissioner
as an institution that may conduct a work release program.
12. "Superintendent". The chief administrative officer of a
correctional facility. Whenever the term "warden" appears in this
chapter in such context as to mean an officer of a state correctional
facility, such reference shall be deemed to mean "superintendent".
13. "Infant" or "minor" means a person who has not attained the age of
eighteen years.
* 14. "Community treatment facility." A residential chemical
dependence facility approved as provided in section 32.01 of the mental
hygiene law or pursuant to section 32.31 of such law used exclusively to
provide substance abuse treatment services to persons eligible pursuant
to section seventy-two-a of this chapter and who are otherwise eligible
for temporary release pursuant to subdivision two of section eight
hundred fifty-one of this chapter. These facilities shall be separate
and distinct so as not to replace existing substance abuse treatment
services.
* NB Expires September 1, 2025
15. "Shock incarceration correctional facility". A correctional
facility designated by the commissioner as an institution that may
conduct a shock incarceration program.
16. (a) "Local correctional facility." Any place operated by a county
or the city of New York as a place for the confinement of persons duly
committed to secure their attendance as witnesses in any criminal case,
charged with crime and committed for trial or examination, awaiting the
availability of a court, duly committed for any contempt or upon civil
process, convicted of any offense and sentenced to imprisonment therein
or awaiting transportation under sentence to imprisonment in a
correctional facility, or pursuant to any other applicable provisions of
law.
(b) Whenever the term "jail", "penitentiary" or "workhouse" is used in
this chapter, such term shall be deemed to mean local correctional
facility.
(c) Whenever the term "sheriff" is used in this chapter, such term
shall be deemed to include the warden, superintendent, or other person
in charge of a local correctional facility.
17. "Alcohol and substance abuse treatment facility." A correctional
facility designed to house medium security incarcerated individuals as
defined by department rules and regulations and operated for the purpose
of providing intensive alcohol and substance abuse treatment services.
Such services shall ensure comprehensive treatment for alcoholism and
substance abuse to incarcerated individuals who have been identified by
the commissioner or his or her designee as having had or presently
having a history of alcoholism or substance abuse. Such services shall
be provided in the facility in accordance with minimum standards
promulgated by the department after consultation with the office of
alcoholism and substance abuse services.
* 18. "Alcohol and substance abuse treatment correctional annex." A
medium security correctional facility consisting of one or more
residential dormitories, which provide intensive alcohol and substance
abuse treatment services to incarcerated individuals who: (i) are
otherwise eligible for temporary release, or (ii) stand convicted of a
felony defined in article two hundred twenty or two hundred twenty-one
of the penal law, and are within six months of being an eligible
incarcerated individual as that term is defined in subdivision two of
section eight hundred fifty-one of this chapter including such
incarcerated individuals who are participating in such program pursuant
to subdivision six of section 60.04 of the penal law. Notwithstanding
the foregoing provisions of this subdivision, any incarcerated
individual to be enrolled in this program pursuant to subdivision six of
section 60.04 of the penal law shall be governed by the same rules and
regulations promulgated by the department, including without limitation
those rules and regulations establishing requirements for completion and
those rules and regulations governing discipline and removal from the
program. No such period of court ordered corrections based drug abuse
treatment pursuant to this subdivision shall be required to extend
beyond the defendant's conditional release date. Such treatment services
may be provided by one or more outside service providers pursuant to
contractual agreements with the department, provided, however, that any
such provider shall be required to continue to provide, either directly
or through formal or informal agreement with other providers, alcohol
and substance abuse treatment services to incarcerated individuals who
have successfully participated in such provider's incarcerative
treatment services and who have been presumptively released, paroled,
conditionally released or released to post release supervision under the
supervision of the department and who are, as a condition of such
release, required to participate in alcohol or substance abuse
treatment. Such incarcerative services shall be provided in the facility
in accordance with minimum standards promulgated by the department after
consultation with the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services.
Such services to parolees shall be provided in accordance with standards
promulgated by the department after consultation with the office of
alcoholism and substance abuse services. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, any person who has successfully completed no less than
six months of intensive alcohol and substance abuse treatment services
in one of the department's eight designated alcohol and substance abuse
treatment correctional annexes having a combined total capacity of two
thousand five hundred fifty beds may be transferred to a program
operated by or at a residential treatment facility, provided however,
that a person under a determinate sentence as a second felony drug
offender for a class B felony offense defined in article two hundred
twenty of the penal law, who was sentenced pursuant to section 70.70 of
such law, shall not be eligible to be transferred to a program operated
at a residential treatment facility until the time served under
imprisonment for his or her determinate sentence, including any jail
time credited pursuant to subdivision three of section 70.30 of the
penal law, shall be at least nine months. The commissioner shall report
annually to the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the
assembly commencing January first, two thousand twelve the number of
incarcerated individuals received by the department during the reporting
period who are subject to a sentence which includes enrollment in
substance abuse treatment in accordance with subdivision six of section
60.04 of the penal law, the number of such incarcerated individuals who
are not placed in such treatment program and the reasons for such
occurrences.
* NB Effective until September 1, 2025
* 18. "Alcohol and substance abuse treatment correctional annex." A
medium security correctional facility consisting of one or more
residential dormitories which provide intensive alcohol and substance
abuse treatment services to incarcerated individuals who: (i) are
otherwise eligible for temporary release, or (ii) stand convicted of a
felony defined in article two hundred twenty or two hundred twenty-one
of the penal law, and are within six months of being an eligible
incarcerated individual as that term is defined in subdivision two of
section eight hundred fifty-one of this chapter including such
incarcerated individuals who are participating in such program pursuant
to subdivision six of section 60.04 of the penal law. Notwithstanding
the foregoing provisions of this subdivision, any incarcerated
individual to be enrolled in this program pursuant to subdivision six of
section 60.04 of the penal law shall be governed by the same rules and
regulations promulgated by the department, including without limitation
those rules and regulations establishing requirements for completion and
those rules and regulations governing discipline and removal from the
program. No such period of court ordered corrections based drug abuse
treatment pursuant to this subdivision shall be required to extend
beyond the defendant's conditional release date. Such treatment services
may be provided by one or more outside service providers pursuant to
contractual agreements with the department, provided, however, that any
such provider shall be required to continue to provide, either directly
or through formal or informal agreement with other providers, alcohol
and substance abuse treatment services to incarcerated individuals who
have successfully participated in such provider's incarcerative
treatment services and who have been presumptively released, paroled,
conditionally released or released to post release supervision under the
supervision of the department and who are, as a condition of such
release, required to participate in alcohol or substance abuse
treatment. Such incarcerative services shall be provided in the facility
in accordance with minimum standards promulgated by the department after
consultation with the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services.
Such services to parolees shall be provided in accordance with standards
promulgated by the department after consultation with the office of
alcoholism and substance abuse services. The commissioner shall report
annually to the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the
assembly commencing January first, two thousand twelve the number of
incarcerated individuals received by the department during the reporting
period who are subject to a sentence which includes enrollment in
substance abuse treatment in accordance with subdivision six of section
60.04 of the penal law, the number of such incarcerated individuals who
are not placed in such treatment program and the reasons for such
occurrences.
* NB Effective September 1, 2025
19. "Vocational and skills training facility" means a correctional
facility designated by the commissioner to provide a vocational and
skills training program ("VAST") to incarcerated individuals who need
such service before they participate in a work release program. The VAST
facility shall provide intensive assessment, counseling, job search
assistance and where appropriate academic and vocational instruction to
program participants. Such assistance may include an assessment of any
incarcerated individual's education attainment level and skills
aptitudes; career counseling and exploration; the development of a
comprehensive instructional plan including identification of educational
and training needs that may extend beyond the date of entry into work
release; instructional programs including GED preparation or
post-secondary instruction as appropriate; occupational skills training;
life skills training; employment readiness including workplace behavior;
and job search assistance. The department and the department of labor
shall jointly develop activities providing career counseling, job search
assistance, and job placement services for participants. Nothing
contained in this section shall be deemed to modify the eligibility
requirements provided by law applicable to incarcerated individuals
participating in a work release program.
20. "Drug treatment campus" means a facility operated by the
department to provide a program of intensive drug treatment services for
individuals sentenced to parole supervision sentences pursuant to
section 410.91 of the criminal procedure law or for certain parole
violators. All such treatment services shall be provided by, or with the
approval of and pursuant to a plan developed in conjunction with, the
office of alcoholism and substance abuse services, and which plan shall
include but not be limited to provision for an appropriate continuum of
care that includes a needs assessment and treatment services for
individuals while at this facility and upon discharge from such
facility, including an enhanced aftercare program. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, in the event that a person sentenced to parole supervision
pursuant to section 410.91 of the criminal procedure law requires a
degree of medical care or mental health care that cannot be provided at
a drug treatment campus, the department, in writing, shall notify the
person, provide a proposal describing a proposed
alternative-to-the-drug-treatment-campus program, and notify him or her
that he or she may object in writing to placement in such
alternative-to-the-drug-treatment-campus program. If the person objects
in writing to placement in such alternative-to-the-drug-treatment-campus
program, the department shall notify the sentencing court, provide such
proposal to the court, and arrange for the person's prompt appearance
before the court. The court shall provide the proposal and notice of a
court appearance to the prosecutor, the person and the appropriate
defense attorney. After considering the proposal and any submissions by
the parties, and after a reasonable opportunity for the prosecutor, the
person and counsel to be heard, the court may modify its sentencing
order accordingly, notwithstanding the provisions of section 430.10 of
the criminal procedure law. A person who successfully completes an
alternative-to-the-drug-treatment-campus program within the department
shall be treated in the same manner as a person who has successfully
completed the drug treatment campus program, as set forth herein and in
section 410.91 of the criminal procedure law.
21. "Residential mental health treatment unit" means housing for
incarcerated individuals with serious mental illness that is operated
jointly by the department and the office of mental health and is
therapeutic in nature. Such units shall not be operated as disciplinary
housing units, and decisions about treatment and conditions of
confinement shall be made based upon a clinical assessment of the
therapeutic needs of the incarcerated individual and maintenance of
adequate safety and security on the unit. Such units shall include, but
not be limited to, the residential mental health unit model, the
behavioral health unit model, the intermediate care program and the
intensive intermediate care program. The models shall be defined in
regulations promulgated by the department in consultation with the
commissioner of mental health consistent with this subdivision and
section four hundred one of this chapter. Incarcerated individuals
placed in a residential mental health treatment unit shall be offered at
least four hours a day of structured out-of-cell therapeutic programming
and/or mental health treatment, except on weekends or holidays, in
addition to exercise, and may be provided with additional out-of-cell
activities as are consistent with their mental health needs; provided,
however, that the department may maintain no more than thirty-eight
behavioral health unit beds in which the number of hours of out-of-cell
structured therapeutic programming and/or mental health treatment
offered to incarcerated individuals on a daily basis, except on weekends
or holidays, may be limited to only two hours. Out-of-cell therapeutic
programming and/or mental health treatment need not be provided to an
incarcerated individual for a brief orientation period following his or
her arrival at a residential mental health treatment unit. The length of
such orientation period shall be determined by a mental health clinician
but in no event shall be longer than five business days.
22. "Mental health clinician" means a psychiatrist, psychologist,
social worker or nurse practitioner who is licensed by the department of
education and employed by the office of mental health.
23. "Segregated confinement" means the confinement of an incarcerated
individual in any form of cell confinement for more than seventeen hours
a day other than in a facility-wide emergency or for the purpose of
providing medical or mental health treatment. Cell confinement that is
implemented due to medical or mental health treatment shall be within a
clinical area in the correctional facility or in as close proximity to a
medical or mental health unit as possible.
24. "Joint case management committee" means a committee composed of
staff from the department and the office of mental health. Such a
committee shall be established at each level one and level two facility.
Each committee shall consist of at least two clinical staff of the
office of mental health and two officials of the department. The purpose
of such committee shall be to review, monitor and coordinate the
behavior and treatment plan of any incarcerated individual who is placed
in segregated confinement or a residential mental health treatment unit
and who is receiving services from the office of mental health.
25. "Joint central office review committee" means a committee
comprised of central office personnel from the department and the office
of mental health as designated by the respective commissioners.
26. "Treatment team" means a team consisting of an equal number of
individuals from the department and the office of mental health who are
assigned to a residential mental health treatment unit and who will
review and determine each incarcerated individual's appropriateness for
movement through the various program phases, when applicable. The
treatment team shall also review, monitor and coordinate the treatment
plans for all incarcerated individual participants.
27. "Level one facility" means a correctional facility at which staff
from the office of mental health are assigned on a full-time basis and
able to provide treatment to incarcerated individuals with a major
mental disorder. The array of available specialized services include:
residential crisis treatment, residential day treatment, medication
monitoring by psychiatric nursing staff, and potential commitment to the
central New York Psychiatric Center.
28. "Level two facility" means a correctional facility at which staff
from the office of mental health are assigned on a full-time basis and
able to provide treatment to incarcerated individuals with a major
mental disorder, but such disorder is not as acute as that of
incarcerated individuals who require placement at a level one facility.
29. "Level three facility" means a correctional facility at which
staff from the office of mental health are assigned on a part-time basis
and able to provide treatment and medication to incarcerated individuals
who either have a moderate mental disorder, or who are in remission from
a disorder, and who are determined by staff of the office of mental
health to be able to function adequately in the facility with such level
of staffing.
30. "Level four facility" means a correctional facility at which staff
from the office of mental health are assigned on a part-time basis and
able to provide treatment to incarcerated individuals who may require
limited intervention, excluding psychiatric medications.
31. "Community supervision" means the supervision of individuals
released into the community on temporary release, presumptive release,
parole, conditional release, post release supervision or medical parole.
32. "Correctional association" means the correctional association of
New York, duly incorporated by chapter six of the laws of eighteen
forty-six, and any of its employees, board members, and designees.
33. "Special populations" means any person: (a) twenty-one years of
age or younger; (b) fifty-five years of age or older; (c) with a
disability as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision twenty-one of
section two hundred ninety-two of the executive law; or (d) who is
pregnant, in the first eight weeks of the post-partum recovery period
after giving birth, or caring for a child in a correctional institution
pursuant to subdivisions two or three of section six hundred eleven of
this chapter.
34. "Residential rehabilitation unit" means a separate housing unit
used for therapy, treatment, and rehabilitative programming of
incarcerated people who have been determined to require more than
fifteen days of segregated confinement pursuant to department
proceedings. Such units shall be therapeutic and trauma-informed, and
aim to address individual treatment and rehabilitation needs and
underlying causes of problematic behaviors.
NYSentencing