Amd S10.00, add S190.87, Pen L; add S80, Cor L; add S99-v, St Fin L
Establishes the inmate fraud act, which creates the crime of inmate fraud; allows inmates' accounts to be frozen and establishes the victims of inmate fraud fund.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3104--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 30, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes -- recommitted to
the Committee on Codes in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crime of
inmate fraud, to amend the correction law, in relation to freezing
accounts of inmates and to amend the state finance law, in relation to
establishing the victims of inmate fraud fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "the inmate
2 fraud act".
3 § 2. Section 10.00 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
4 vision 22 to read as follows:
5 22. For purposes of section 190.87 of this chapter, the term "inmate"
6 shall mean a person who is confined in the custody of the department of
7 correction, a sheriff, a county jail or a secure juvenile facility.
8 § 3. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 190.87 to read
9 as follows:
10 § 190.87 Inmate fraud.
11 An inmate who, with the intent of obtaining money or other property
12 from a person who is not an inmate, knowingly or intentionally makes a
13 misrepresentation to a person who is not an inmate and obtains or
14 attempts to obtain money or other property from the person who is not an
15 inmate; or obtains or attempts to obtain money or other property from
16 the person who is not an inmate through a misrepresentation made by
17 another person is guilty of inmate fraud.
18 Inmate fraud is a class C felony.
19 § 4. The correction law is amended by adding a new section 80 to read
20 as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06821-03-4
S. 3104--A 2
1 § 80. Inmate fraud; freezing inmate accounts. 1. If the department
2 has reasonable suspicion that money in an inmate's account was derived
3 from the commission of inmate fraud, as defined in section 190.87 of the
4 penal law, the department may freeze all or a part of the inmate's
5 account for not more than one hundred eighty days while the department
6 conducts an investigation to determine whether money in the inmate's
7 account derives from inmate fraud. If the department freezes the account
8 of an inmate under this section, the department shall notify the inmate
9 in writing.
10 2. If the department's investigation reveals that no money in the
11 inmate's account was derived from inmate fraud, the department shall
12 unfreeze the account at the conclusion of the investigation.
13 3. If the department's investigation reveals that money in the
14 inmate's account may have been derived from the commission of inmate
15 fraud, the department shall notify the prosecuting attorney of the
16 results of the department's investigation.
17 4. If the prosecuting attorney charges the inmate with inmate fraud,
18 the department shall freeze the inmate's account until the case reaches
19 final judgment.
20 5. If the prosecuting attorney does not charge the inmate with inmate
21 fraud, or if the inmate is acquitted of the charge of inmate fraud, the
22 department shall unfreeze the inmate's account.
23 6. If the inmate is convicted of inmate fraud, the department, in
24 consultation with the prosecuting attorney, shall locate the money or
25 property derived from inmate fraud and return it to the rightful owner.
26 7. If, ninety days after the date of an inmate's conviction for inmate
27 fraud, the department has located the money or property derived from the
28 commission of inmate fraud but is unable to return the money to the
29 rightful owner, the department shall deposit the money in the victims of
30 inmate fraud fund established by section ninety-nine-v of the state
31 finance law.
32 8. Confidential information held by the department about a person who
33 has been committed to the department shall be disclosed to a person who
34 is or may be the victim of inmate fraud if the commissioner determines
35 that the interest in disclosure overrides the interest to be served by
36 nondisclosure or if the commissioner determines there exists a compel-
37 ling public interest for disclosure which overrides the interest to be
38 served by nondisclosure.
39 § 5. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-v to
40 read as follows:
41 § 99-v. Victims of inmate fraud fund. 1. There is hereby established
42 in the custody of the state comptroller a special fund to be known as
43 the "victims of inmate fraud fund".
44 2. The victims of inmate fraud fund shall consist of moneys deposited
45 therein pursuant to subdivision seven of section eighty of the
46 correction law.
47 3. The moneys in the victims of inmate fraud fund shall be kept sepa-
48 rate from and shall not be commingled with any other moneys in the
49 custody of the state comptroller. Such moneys shall be allocated to and
50 expended by the department of corrections and community supervision
51 solely for the purpose of administering section eighty of the correction
52 law.
53 § 6. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
54 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
