Relates to providing only plastic or composite eating utensils at state correctional facilities for use in cafeterias, mess halls, canteens, commissaries, or any other dining facility located within.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1770
SPONSOR: Jones (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the correction law, in relation to providing plastic or
composite eating utensils at state correctional facilities
PURPOSE:
To mitigate the danger to corrections officers and inmates of metal
utensils used as weapons by ensuring state correctional facilities only
provide plastic or composite eating utensils in facility dining areas.
SUMMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the correction law by adding new section 625 providing
that all eating utensils provided by state correction facilities must be
made solely from plastic or another composite material.
Section 2: This section establishes an effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2017, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision reported 798 assaults on corrections staff statewide, and
1,220 assaults on inmates by other inmates. These unfortunate statistics
remind us that safety must always remain a top priority in our correc-
tional facilities. To ensure that safety, our facilities must take every
effort to avoid inmate access to objects or implements that may readily
be used to harm other inmates, or the corrections officers who put their
lives on the line every day to serve our communities.
Metal utensils in correctional facility dining areas have proven to be a
significant safety risk for staff and inmates alike. On March 9, 2018,
in one of our state's medium security facilities, an inmate used a metal
fork to stab another inmate in the head. The assaulted inmate retaliated
by punching and then stabbing the attacker with his own metal fork.
After the assault escalated, correction officers were forced to step in
and break up the fight. The metal dining utensils used by these inmates
in this altercation were utensils provided by the correctional facility
in this dining area.
This violent use of metal utensils as weapons is not an isolated inci-
dent. Many correctional facilities have eliminated metal utensils for
inmates in dining facilities based on this risk. IN light of the recent
assault and known dangers, this bill would require that state correc-
tional facilities only provide inmates with utensils made solely of
plastic or another composite material in cafeterias, mess halls, and
other dining areas as defined. While the risk of violence is always
present in correctional facilities, we must make every effort to ensure
the safety of our corrections officers, and of the inmates housed in
those facilities.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1770
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 20, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JONES, McDONOUGH, SANTABARBARA, RIVERA, MIKULIN
-- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARCLAY, COOK, FRIEND -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to providing plastic or
composite eating utensils at state correctional facilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The correction law is amended by adding a new section 627
2 to read as follows:
3 § 627. Eating utensils. All eating utensils provided by state correc-
4 tional facilities to individuals housed in such facilities for use in
5 cafeterias, mess halls, canteens, commissaries, or any other dining
6 facility located within, shall be made solely from plastic or another
7 composite material.
8 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
9 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02511-01-3
