Restricts the use of segregated confinement and creates alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options; limits the length of time a person may be in segregated confinement and excludes certain persons from being placed in segregated confinement.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8588A
SPONSOR: Aubry TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the correction law, in relation to
restricting the use of segregated confinement and creating alternative
therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options
PURPOSE: This bill will be known as the "Humane Alternatives to Long-
Term Solitary Confinement" Act (the HALT Solitary Confinement Act.)
This bill would limit the time an inmate can spend in segregated
confinement, end the segregated confinement of vulnerable people,
restrict the criteria that can result in such confinement, improve
conditions of confinement, and create more humane and effective alterna-
tives to such confinement.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 states the purpose of the bill.
Section 2 clarifies that the bill's provisions apply to all types and
locations of segregated confinement.
Section 3 defines "special populations"; "emergency", "short-term" and
"extended segregated confinement"; and "residential rehabilitation
units".
Section 4g prohibits segregation of vulnerable groups ("special popu-
lations"), including young and elderly people, people with physical or
mental disabilities, pregnant women, new mothers, and members of the
LGBTI community.
Section 4h places a limit of 15 consecutive days and a limit of 20 total
days in a 60 day period on the amount of time any person can spend in
segregated confinement, and requires that beyond those limits all
persons must be released or sent to a separate secure residential reha-
bilitation unit (RRU).
Section 4ii enhances conditions in segregated confinement, including
additional out-of-cell time, congregate recreation, access to essential
services, and bans on orders depriving basic necessities, including
restricted diets. It also provides for new RRUs as a more humane and
effective alternative that provide meaningful - human contact and thera-
peutic, trauma-informed, and rehabilitative programs aimed at addressing
underlying causes of behavior.
Section 4j restricts the criteria for segregated confinement beyond
three days or RRUs to more serious acts of physical injury, forced sexu-
al acts, extortion, coercion, inciting serious disturbance, procuring
deadly weapons or dangerous contraband, or escape. It allows for segre-
gated confinement of three days for department rule violations, and
24-hour emergency confinement if necessary. It prohibits segregated
confinement for purposes of protective custody and requires that any
protective custody unit at a minimum meet the standards for RRUs.
Section 4k enhances procedural protections for placement in segregated
confinement including allowing for representation, and assessments for
determining whether someone is a member of a "special population" prior
to segregation.
Section 4l creates mechanisms for periodic review and release from an
RRU based on a resident's progress and acts, expiration of a discipli-
nary sentence, expiration of a one-year limit, or independent outside
review after one year in an RRU.
Section 4m requires training for RRU staff and hearing officers and
Section 4n requires public reporting on the use of segregation and RRUs.
Sections 5 and 6 require oversight over implementation of the bill.
JUSTIFICATION: This bill aims to make New York's prison and jail prac-
tices more humane and effective. The bill limits the length of time
anyone can spend in segregated confinement, restricts the criteria that
can result in such confinement, provides additional procedural
protections prior to such confinement, and exempts certain vulnerable
groups. The bill also provides an alternative mechanism for working with
people who engage in serious violence or other problematic behavior that
involves - not deprivation - but therapeutic and rehabilitative support
and programs.
Segregated confinement is inhumane and ineffective. Studies have long
and consistently found that subjecting people to segregated confinement
for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day without meaningful human
contact, programming, or therapy often causes deep and permanent psycho-
logical, physical, developmental, and social harm. This harm not only
violates common values of decency, but also is counterproductive because
people often have more difficulty complying with prison rules after
being placed in segregated confinement. Segregated confinement can be
particularly devastating for certain vulnerable people, such as young or
elderly people, pregnant women, and people with disabilities or
addiction or trauma histories; and segregated members of the LGBTI
community are more vulnerable to abuse. Other states have dramatically
reduced the number of people in segregated confinement, and seen posi-
tive benefits in terms of safety and decreased violence.
Despite the tremendous harm caused by massive isolation of thousands of
incarcerated persons, New York prisons and jails currently impose segre-
gated confinement too broadly, routinely, and for too long a period of
time. On any given day, there are nearly 4,000 people, disproportionate-
ly people of color, in state prisons in Special Housing Units (SHU) and
thousands more in other forms of isolation. There are also around a
thousand more people in segregated confinement in jails in New York City
alone. Despite claims that segregated confinement is used in response to
the most violent behavior, five out of six disciplinary infractions that
result in SHU time in New York prisons are for non-violent conduct.
Moreover, people routinely suffer in segregated confinement for months,
years, and even decades in New York.
A growing chorus of individuals, organizations, and policy-makers has
called for a dramatic transformation and curtailment of the use of
segregated confinement, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture
concluded that solitary confinement can amount to torture and recom-
mended abolishing its use beyond 15 days and prohibiting any use of
solitary for vulnerable groups or purposes of punishment. The New York
Civil Liberties Union and others have issued reports documenting the
arbitrary and unjustified use of segregated confinement in New York and
the negative impacts its use has on incarcerated persons, staff, and
safety in our prisons and communities. The New York State Bar Associ-
ation has called upon the state and city corrections departments to
profoundly restrict the use of segregated confinement, end segregated
confinement beyond 15 days, adopt stringent criteria for any separation,
and ensure any separation is for the briefest period and in the least
restrictive conditions practicable. This bill takes up the growing call
to limit segregated confinement and provide more humane and effective
alternatives.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act will take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8588--A
IN ASSEMBLY
January 24, 2014
___________
Introduced by M. of A. AUBRY, PERRY -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Correction -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to restricting the use
of segregated confinement and creating alternative therapeutic and
rehabilitative confinement options
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 137 of the correction law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 5-a to read as follows:
3 5-a. The use of segregated confinement, exclusion of certain special
4 populations, and length of time any person can spend in segregated
5 confinement shall be restricted in accordance with paragraphs (g), (h),
6 (i), (j), (k), (l), (m), and (n) of subdivision six of this section or
7 any other applicable law.
8 § 2. Subdivision 23 of section 2 of the correction law, as added by
9 chapter 1 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
10 23. "Segregated confinement" means the [disciplinary] confinement,
11 other than for emergency confinement as defined in subdivision thirty-
12 three of this section, or for documented medical reasons or mental
13 health emergencies, of an inmate in a special housing unit or in a sepa-
14 rate keeplock housing unit or any form of keeplock, or cell confinement
15 for more than seventeen hours a day other than in a facility-wide lock-
16 down. Special housing units and separate keeplock units are housing
17 units that consist of cells grouped so as to provide separation from the
18 general population, and may be used to house inmates confined pursuant
19 to the disciplinary procedures described in regulations.
20 § 3. Section 2 of the correction law is amended by adding five new
21 subdivisions 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 to read as follows:
22 32. "Special populations" means any person: (a) twenty-one years of
23 age or younger; (b) fifty-five years of age or older; (c) with a disa-
24 bility as defined in subdivision twenty-one of section two hundred nine-
25 ty-two of the executive law, including but not limited to, for purposes
26 of mental impairment, persons with a serious mental illness as defined
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13381-03-4
A. 8588--A 2
1 in paragraph (e) of subdivision six of section one hundred thirty-seven
2 of this chapter; (d) who is pregnant, is in the first eight weeks of the
3 post-partum recovery period after giving birth, or is caring for a child
4 in a correctional institution pursuant to subdivisions two or three of
5 section six hundred eleven of this chapter; or (e) who is or is
6 perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex.
7 33. "Emergency confinement" means confinement in any cell for no more
8 than twenty-four consecutive hours and no more than forty-eight total
9 hours in any fifteen day period, with at least one hour of out-of-cell
10 recreation for every twenty-four hours.
11 34. "Short-term segregated confinement" means segregated confinement
12 of no more than three consecutive days and six days total within any
13 thirty day period.
14 35. "Extended segregated confinement" means segregated confinement of
15 no more than fifteen consecutive days and twenty days total within any
16 sixty day period.
17 36. "Residential rehabilitation unit" means secure and separate units
18 used for therapy, treatment, and rehabilitative programming of people
19 who would be placed in segregated confinement for more than fifteen
20 days. Such units are therapeutic and trauma-informed, and aim to address
21 individual treatment and rehabilitation needs and underlying causes of
22 problematic behaviors.
23 § 4. Subdivision 6 of section 137 of the correction law is amended by
24 adding eight new paragraphs (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), (m), and (n)
25 to read as follows:
26 (g) Persons in a special population as defined in subdivision thirty-
27 two of section two of this chapter shall not be placed in segregated
28 confinement for any length of time. Any such persons the department
29 would otherwise place in segregated confinement shall remain in general
30 population or be diverted to a residential rehabilitation unit. If a
31 person in a special population is placed in emergency confinement for
32 more than sixteen hours, he or she shall be allowed out-of-cell at least
33 four hours.
34 (h) No person may be in segregated confinement for longer than neces-
35 sary and never more than fifteen consecutive days nor twenty total days
36 within any sixty day period. At these limits, persons must be released
37 from segregated confinement or diverted to a separate secure residential
38 rehabilitation unit.
39 (i) (i) All segregated confinement and residential rehabilitation
40 units shall create the least restrictive environment necessary for the
41 safety of residents, staff, and the security of the facility.
42 (ii) Persons in segregated confinement shall be allowed out-of-cell at
43 least four hours per day, including at least one hour for recreation.
44 Persons in residential rehabilitation units shall be allowed at least
45 six hours per day out-of-cell for programming, services, treatment,
46 and/or meals, and an additional minimum of one hour for recreation.
47 Recreation in all units shall take place in a congregate setting, unless
48 exceptional circumstances mean doing so would create a significant and
49 unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other incarcerated
50 persons, staff, or the facility.
51 (iii) Persons in segregated confinement and residential rehabilitation
52 units shall: (A) receive at least comparable medical and mental health
53 care to general population, including obstetrical and gynecological
54 services, in a setting ensuring privacy and confidentiality; (B) have
55 their basic needs met in a manner comparable to general population, and
56 never have restricted diets nor any order restricting any basic need
A. 8588--A 3
1 imposed as a form of punishment; (C) if in a residential rehabilitation
2 unit be able to retain all their property with them; (D) have comparable
3 access to all services and materials as in general population; and (E)
4 be able to retain program materials, complete program assignments, and
5 continue upon return all uncompleted programs they were in prior to
6 placement in segregated confinement or a residential rehabilitation
7 unit.
8 (iv) Within ten days of admission to a residential rehabilitation
9 unit, an assessment committee comprised of program, rehabilitation,
10 mental health, and security staff shall administer an assessment and
11 develop in collaboration with the resident an individual rehabilitation
12 plan, based upon the person's medical, mental health, and programming
13 needs, that identifies specific goals and programs, treatment, and
14 services to be offered, with projected time frames for completion and
15 release from the residential rehabilitation unit.
16 (v) Residents in residential rehabilitation units shall have access to
17 programs and jobs comparable to all core out-of-cell programs in general
18 population. Such residents shall also have access to additional out-of-
19 cell, trauma-informed therapeutic programming aimed at promoting
20 personal development, addressing underlying causes of problematic behav-
21 ior resulting in placement in a residential rehabilitation unit, and
22 helping prepare for discharge from the unit and to the community.
23 (vi) If the department establishes that a person committed an act
24 defined in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j) of this subdivision while
25 in segregated confinement or a residential rehabilitation unit and poses
26 a significant and unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other
27 residents or staff, the department may restrict that person's partic-
28 ipation in programming and out-of-cell time as necessary for the safety
29 of other residents and staff. If restrictions are imposed in segregated
30 confinement, the department must still provide at least two hours out-
31 of-cell time. If restrictions are imposed in a residential rehabili-
32 tation unit, the department shall develop a new rehabilitation plan,
33 provide at least three hours out-of-cell time, and on each day program-
34 ming restrictions are imposed provide at least two hours of out-of-cell
35 one-on-one therapy with the resident and one hour of out-of-cell recre-
36 ation. The department shall remove all restrictions within fifteen days,
37 and may not impose new restrictions unless the person commits a new act
38 defined in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j) of this subdivision.
39 (vii) Restraints shall not be used when residents leave a cell or
40 housing area for on-unit operations, unless a resident was found at a
41 hearing to have committed an act of violence on the residential rehabil-
42 itation unit within the previous seven days or is currently acting in an
43 unacceptably violent manner, and not using restraints would create a
44 significant and unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other
45 residents or staff.
46 (viii) There shall be a presumption against the imposition of misbe-
47 havior reports, pursuit of disciplinary charges, or imposition of addi-
48 tional time in segregated confinement for individuals in segregated
49 confinement or residential rehabilitation units. The department shall
50 use other non-disciplinary interventions to address any problematic
51 behavior. No resident shall receive segregated confinement time while in
52 segregated confinement or a residential rehabilitation unit except where
53 it is determined pursuant to a disciplinary hearing that he or she
54 committed one or more act listed in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j)
55 of this subdivision while on the unit, and that he or she poses a
A. 8588--A 4
1 significant and unreasonable risk to the safety of residents or staff,
2 or the security of the facility.
3 (j) (i) The department may place a person in emergency confinement
4 without a hearing if necessary for immediately defusing a substantial
5 and imminent threat to safety or security of incarcerated persons or
6 staff.
7 (ii) The department is encouraged to use responses other than segre-
8 gated confinement in response to department rule violations. The depart-
9 ment may place a person in short term segregated confinement if it
10 determines, pursuant to an evidentiary hearing, that the person commit-
11 ted a department rule violation warranting such confinement and the
12 length of segregated confinement imposed is proportionate to the
13 violation.
14 (iii) The department may place a person in extended segregated
15 confinement or a residential rehabilitation unit only if, pursuant to an
16 evidentiary hearing, it determines the person committed, while under
17 department custody, or prior to custody if the commissioner or his or
18 her designee determines in writing based on specific objective criteria
19 the acts were so heinous or destructive that general population housing
20 creates a significant risk of imminent serious physical injury to staff
21 or other incarcerated persons, one of the following acts: (A) causing or
22 attempting to cause serious physical injury or death to another person;
23 (B) compelling or attempting to compel another person, by force or
24 threat of force, to engage in a sexual act; (C) extorting another, by
25 force or threat of force, for property or money; (D) coercing another,
26 by force or threat of force, to violate any rule; (E) leading, organiz-
27 ing, or inciting a serious disturbance that results in the taking of a
28 hostage, major property damage, or physical harm to another person; (F)
29 procuring deadly weapons or other dangerous contraband that poses a
30 serious threat to the security of the institution; or (G) escaping,
31 attempting to escape or facilitating an escape from a facility, or while
32 under supervision outside of such a facility, resulting in physical harm
33 or threatened physical harm to others, or in major destruction to the
34 physical plant.
35 (iv) No person may be held in segregated confinement for protective
36 custody. Any unit used for protective custody must, at a minimum,
37 conform to requirements governing residential rehabilitation units under
38 paragraphs (i), (l), (m), and (n) of this subdivision. When applied to a
39 person in protective custody, the criteria in subparagraph (ii) and
40 clause (A) of subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (l) of this subdivision
41 shall be that "the person still is in need of protective custody"; and
42 the criteria in subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (l) of this subdivision
43 shall be that "the person is in voluntary protective custody."
44 (k) (i) All hearings to determine if a person may be placed in short
45 term or extended segregated confinement shall occur prior to placement
46 in segregated confinement unless a security supervisor, with written
47 approval of a facility superintendent or designee, reasonably believes
48 the person fits the criteria for extended segregated confinement. If a
49 hearing does not take place prior to placement, it shall occur as soon
50 as reasonably practicable and at most within five days of transfer
51 unless the charged person seeks more time. All hearings shall at a mini-
52 mum comply with the standards of all department rules for disciplinary
53 hearings as of January first, two thousand fifteen. Persons at all
54 hearings shall be permitted to be represented by any pro bono or
55 retained attorney, or law student; or any paralegal or incarcerated
56 person unless the department reasonably disapproves of such paralegal or
A. 8588--A 5
1 incarcerated person based upon objective written criteria developed by
2 the department concerning qualifications to be an assistant at a hear-
3 ing.
4 (ii) On notification a person is to be placed in segregated confine-
5 ment and prior to such placement, he or she shall be assessed by rele-
6 vant licensed medical, social, and/or mental health professionals to
7 determine whether he or she belongs to any special population as defined
8 in subdivision thirty-two of section two of this chapter. If a person
9 disputes a determination that he or she is not in a special population,
10 he or she shall be provided a hearing within seventy-two hours of place-
11 ment in segregated confinement to challenge such determination.
12 (l) (i) Any sanction imposed on an incarcerated person requiring
13 segregated confinement shall run while the person is in a residential
14 rehabilitation unit and the person shall be discharged from the unit
15 before or at the time that sanction expires.
16 (ii) Within thirty days of admission to a residential rehabilitation
17 unit and every sixty days thereafter, the assessment committee shall
18 review each resident's progress and discharge a resident unless it
19 determines in writing through credible and reliable evidence that there
20 is currently a substantial likelihood that the resident will commit an
21 act listed in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j) of this subdivision.
22 (iii) Within one hundred days after admission to a residential reha-
23 bilitation unit and every one hundred twenty days thereafter, a rehabil-
24 itation review committee, comprised of correctional facility executive
25 level program, rehabilitation, and security staff shall discharge a
26 resident from a residential rehabilitation unit unless it determines in
27 writing, after considering the resident's oral statement and any written
28 submissions by the resident or others, that: (A) there is currently a
29 substantial likelihood that the resident will commit an act listed in
30 subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j) of this subdivision, significant
31 therapeutic reasons exist for keeping the resident in the unit to
32 complete specific program or treatment goals, and remaining in the unit
33 is in the best interest of the resident; or (B) the resident has commit-
34 ted an act listed in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j) of this subdi-
35 vision during the one hundred twenty days prior to the review.
36 (iv) If a resident has spent one year in a residential rehabilitation
37 unit or is within sixty days of a fixed or tentatively approved date for
38 release from a correctional facility, he shall be discharged from the
39 unit unless he or she committed an act listed in subparagraph (iii) of
40 paragraph (j) of this subdivision within the prior one hundred eighty
41 days or he or she caused the death of another person while under depart-
42 ment custody or escaped or attempted to escape from department or other
43 police custody and the rehabilitation review committee determines he or
44 she poses a significant and unreasonable risk to the safety or security
45 of incarcerated persons or staff, but in any such case the decision not
46 to discharge such person shall be immediately and automatically
47 subjected to an independent review by the justice center entity with
48 oversight responsibilities under section four hundred one-a of this
49 chapter, with timely notice given to the incarcerated person of the
50 submission of the case to the justice center and of the decision of the
51 justice center. If the justice center disagrees with the decision to
52 not discharge, the resident will be immediately released from the resi-
53 dential rehabilitation unit. If the justice center agrees with the deci-
54 sion to not discharge, the discharge procedures set forth in this para-
55 graph shall apply including annual reviews by the justice center of a
56 decision by the rehabilitation review committee to refuse to release a
A. 8588--A 6
1 resident, however, under no circumstances shall any such person be held
2 in the residential rehabilitation unit for more than three years unless
3 the rehabilitation review committee determines he or she committed an
4 act listed in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j) of this subdivision
5 within one hundred eighty days prior to the expiration of the three year
6 period and poses a significant and unreasonable risk to the safety or
7 security of incarcerated persons or staff.
8 (v) After each assessment committee and rehabilitation review commit-
9 tee decision, if a resident is not discharged from the residential reha-
10 bilitation unit, the respective committee shall specify in writing (A)
11 the reasons for the determination and (B) the program, treatment,
12 service, and/or corrective action requirements for discharge. The resi-
13 dent shall be given access to the programs, treatment and services spec-
14 ified, and shall be discharged from the residential rehabilitation unit
15 upon completion unless the resident has committed an act listed in
16 subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (j) of this subdivision during the
17 previous one hundred twenty days.
18 (vi) When a resident is discharged from a residential rehabilitation
19 unit, any remaining sentence to segregated confinement time will be
20 dismissed. If a resident substantially completes his rehabilitation
21 plan, he or she will have all good time restored upon discharge from the
22 unit.
23 (m) All staff, including supervisory staff, working in a segregated
24 confinement or residential rehabilitation unit shall undergo a minimum
25 of forty hours of training prior to working on the unit and twenty-four
26 hours annually thereafter, on substantive content developed in consulta-
27 tion with relevant experts, including trauma, psychiatric and restora-
28 tive justice experts, on topics including, but not limited to, the
29 purpose and goals of the non-punitive therapeutic environment and
30 dispute resolution methods. Prior to presiding over any hearings, all
31 hearing officers shall undergo a minimum of forty hours of training, and
32 eight hours annually thereafter, on relevant topics, including but not
33 limited to, the physical and psychological effects of segregated
34 confinement, procedural and due process rights of the accused, and
35 restorative justice remedies.
36 (n) The department shall make publicly available monthly reports of
37 the number of people as of the first day of each month, and semi-annual
38 and annual cumulative reports of the total number of people, who are (i)
39 in segregated confinement; and (ii) in residential rehabilitation units;
40 along with a breakdown of the number of people (iii) in segregated
41 confinement and (iv) in residential rehabilitation units by (A) age; (B)
42 race; (C) gender; (D) mental health level; (E) health status; (F) drug
43 addiction status; (G) pregnancy status; (H) lesbian, gay, bisexual,
44 transgender, or intersex status; and (I) total continuous length of
45 stay, and total length of stay in the past sixty days, in segregated
46 confinement or a residential rehabilitation unit.
47 § 5. Section 401-a of the correction law is amended by adding a new
48 subdivision 4 to read as follows:
49 4. The justice center shall assess compliance with the terms of, and
50 at least annually report on and make recommendations to the department,
51 legislature, and public in writing, regarding all aspects of segregated
52 confinement and residential rehabilitation units in state correctional
53 facilities pursuant to section one hundred thirty-seven of this chapter,
54 including but not limited to policies and practices regarding: (a)
55 placement of persons; (b) special populations; (c) length of time spent;
56 (d) hearings and procedures; (e) conditions, programs, services, care,
A. 8588--A 7
1 and treatment; and (f) assessments and rehabilitation plans, and proce-
2 dures and determinations made as to whether persons should remain in
3 residential rehabilitation units.
4 § 6. Subdivision 4 of section 45 of the correction law, as amended by
5 section 15 of subpart A of part C of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is
6 amended to read as follows:
7 4. (a) Establish procedures to assure effective investigation of
8 grievances of, and conditions affecting, inmates of local correctional
9 facilities. Such procedures shall include but not be limited to receipt
10 of written complaints, interviews of persons, and on-site monitoring of
11 conditions. In addition, the commission shall establish procedures for
12 the speedy and impartial review of grievances referred to it by the
13 commissioner of the department of corrections and community supervision.
14 (b) The commission shall also assess compliance with the terms of, and
15 at least annually report on and make recommendations to the department,
16 legislature, and public, regarding all aspects of segregated confinement
17 and residential rehabilitation units in facilities governed by section
18 five hundred-k of this chapter, including but not limited to policies
19 and practices for both regarding: (i) placement of persons; (ii) special
20 populations; (iii) length of time spent; (iv) hearings and procedures;
21 (v) conditions, programs, services, care, and treatment; and (vi)
22 assessments and rehabilitation plans, and procedures and determinations
23 made as to whether persons should remain in residential rehabilitation
24 units.
25 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.
