STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1643--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and
Correction -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to establishing a job
fair pilot program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 201 of the correction law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 16 to read as follows:
3 16. (a) The department shall establish a three-year job fair pilot
4 program to assist incarcerated individuals who are within six months of
5 release to community supervision or who are otherwise within six months
6 of their release date in finding employment. Such job fairs shall be
7 held no less than three times per year in the Wende and New York City
8 correctional facility hubs and shall be implemented by the commissioner
9 in cooperation with the commissioner of labor. The commissioner shall
10 appoint a coordinator for such job fair in each prison where such fairs
11 are held. Eligible incarcerated individuals who reside in correctional
12 facilities in the Wende or New York City correctional facility hubs
13 shall be offered the opportunity to attend the job fair and, if they
14 elect to attend, must be escorted or transported to the site of such job
15 fair. Incarcerated individuals who would otherwise be eligible to
16 participate in the pilot program but who reside in Albion, Taconic or
17 Bedford Correctional Facilities shall not be included in the job fair
18 pilot program but shall be offered enhanced job search opportunities for
19 the duration of the program as practicable. Job fairs shall provide
20 incarcerated individuals with help in resume preparation, internet
21 employment searches, interview advice and other relevant job skills.
22 Potential employers and industry representatives shall be identified by
23 the commissioner in cooperation with the commissioner of the department
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03728-03-5
S. 1643--A 2
1 of labor and shall be invited to such job fairs in order to assist
2 incarcerated individuals in finding employment upon release.
3 (b) The department shall promulgate rules and regulations to ensure
4 the safety of incarcerated individuals, staff, potential employers, and
5 industry representatives throughout any job fair held pursuant to this
6 subdivision.
7 (c) The commissioner shall conduct evaluations of the program annually
8 with a summary evaluation at the end of the pilot program. Such evalu-
9 ations shall include recidivism statistics for job fair attendees, as
10 well as number of attendees, employers attending, the number of jobs
11 offered to such attendees prior to the end of their period of incarcera-
12 tion and other relevant information on the efficacy of the job fairs.
13 Such evaluations shall be reported to the public and the legislature by
14 December thirty-first of each year of the pilot program, with recidivism
15 statistics reported for an additional three years after the pilot
16 program has ended.
17 § 2. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
18 law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
19 rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its
20 effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
21 effective date.
