Establishes a pilot project for placement of incarcerated individuals close to home; provides that such project would house incarcerated individuals who are parents of minor children in the correctional facility located in closest proximity to the primary place of residence of any such incarcerated individual's minor child or children.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1573
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, HYNDMAN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
COOK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to establishing the
pilot project for the placement of incarcerated individuals close to
home; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration
thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "pilot project for the placement of incarcerated individuals close
3 to home".
4 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds and declares
5 that research shows incarcerated individuals who maintain family ties
6 during incarceration have lower rates of recidivism than incarcerated
7 individuals who do not. Further, most incarcerated individuals are
8 parents, and more than 80,000 children in the state of New York have a
9 parent incarcerated in the state prison system.
10 The legislature further finds that the department of corrections and
11 community supervision should consider proximity to minor children among
12 the key criteria of security and health and program needs when determin-
13 ing prison assignments and transfers of parents, and should support
14 increased access of children to their incarcerated parents through the
15 use of technology and programs currently available within the depart-
16 ment.
17 The legislature therefore declares that there is a need to develop
18 classification criteria that would place incarcerated individuals in
19 proximity to their family members and home communities, and in partic-
20 ular for those incarcerated individuals who are parents of minor chil-
21 dren in the appropriate correctional facility located closest to those
22 children provided such placement is otherwise appropriate and suitable,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03730-01-5
A. 1573 2
1 and would facilitate increased contact between such incarcerated indi-
2 vidual and such incarcerated individual's child or children.
3 § 3. The correction law is amended by adding a new section 72-d to
4 read as follows:
5 § 72-d. Pilot project for the placement of incarcerated individuals
6 close to home. 1. The commissioner shall establish a pilot program for
7 the purpose of housing incarcerated individuals who are parents of minor
8 children in the correctional facility which is located in closest prox-
9 imity to the primary place of residence of any such incarcerated indi-
10 viduals minor child or children under eighteen years of age, provided
11 that such placement is otherwise suitable and appropriate pursuant to
12 the regulations of the department and would facilitate increased contact
13 between such incarcerated individual and such incarcerated individual's
14 child or children. For purposes of this pilot program, incarcerated
15 individuals who are parents of minor children on a voluntary basis,
16 would request placement in the pilot program. In selecting such incar-
17 cerated individual the department shall consult with the office of chil-
18 dren and family services and the local district of social services
19 located in the county where such incarcerated individual's child resides
20 to determine if any reasons exist, such as no visitation order, that may
21 prevent the incarcerated individual from participating in the pilot
22 program.
23 2. The commissioner, in consultation with appropriate community organ-
24 izations, shall submit within one year of the effective date of this
25 section and annually thereafter a report to the governor, the temporary
26 president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly on the effec-
27 tiveness of this pilot project. Such reports shall include an analysis
28 of the impact on the incarcerated individual, including factors such as
29 institutional adjustment, behavior infractions, and program partic-
30 ipation, among related relevant factors. The reports shall also include
31 analysis of factors such as frequency of visits, barriers to visitation,
32 logistical challenges and cost-savings to the department. The report
33 shall further include any recommendations for additional legislative
34 enactments that may be needed or required, to improve, enhance and
35 subsequently expand the program as determined to be appropriate by the
36 commissioner. The report following the third year of the pilot program
37 shall include a plan for expansion and eventual incorporation of proxim-
38 ity into placement decisions for all incarcerated individual parents of
39 minor children.
40 3. No person shall have the right to demand or require participation
41 in the pilot project authorized by this section. The commissioner may
42 revoke at any time participation in such project for any serious disci-
43 plinary infraction committed by the incarcerated individual or for any
44 failure to continue to participate successfully in any assigned work and
45 treatment program after placement in such pilot program.
46 4. An eligibility preference shall be granted for child welfare and
47 foster care cases as parents are at risk of losing their parental
48 rights. Admission shall be granted on a rolling basis and priority
49 shall be given to incarcerated individuals who were primary caregivers,
50 although all incarcerated individual parents of minor children shall be
51 considered. The department shall verify that the minor children of
52 incarcerated individuals participating in such pilot program will be
53 able to come to the facility for periodic visitation. Any action by the
54 commissioner pursuant to this section shall be deemed a judicial func-
55 tion and shall not be reviewable if done in accordance with law. Incar-
56 cerated individuals shall not be eligible for this program for a variety
A. 1573 3
1 of factors, as listed in, but not limited to, those enumerated in this
2 section. Incarcerated individuals who are incarcerated for violating
3 parole or conditional release shall be ineligible for this pilot
4 program. Incarcerated individuals who have committed a crime against a
5 child shall be ineligible for this pilot program. Incarcerated individ-
6 uals for whom a closer location would not lead to more visitors shall
7 not be eligible for this program. Mental health issues shall not be an
8 issue of ineligibility with regard to this program, unless there is a
9 compelling reason to do so.
10 § 4. This act shall take effect six months after it shall have become
11 a law and shall expire 3 years after it shall take effect when upon such
12 date the provisions of this act shall be deemed repealed. Effective
13 immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regu-
14 lation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective
15 date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective
16 date.
