Requires commissaries at correctional facilities to provide food options for purchase through the commissary that satisfy the requirements of halal, kosher and other religious dietary needs of the incarcerated individuals housed at the facility; requires correctional facilities to provide food options for purchase from vending machines located in the visitor's area of the facility that satisfy the requirements of halal, kosher and other religious dietary needs of the incarcerated individuals housed at the facility; and requires that the cost of such food options be comparable to food options that are ordinarily available.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4748--B
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 14, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. RAMOS -- 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 -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to requiring religious
dietary food options in prison commissaries and visitor's areas
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 134
2 to read as follows:
3 § 134. Religious dietary requirements. 1. The commissary at each
4 correctional facility shall provide food options for purchase through
5 the facility commissary that satisfy the requirements of religious
6 dietary needs of the incarcerated individuals housed at the facility,
7 including, but not limited to halal foods and kosher foods. Food
8 options available pursuant to this subdivision shall conform to the
9 standards typically associated with the particular religious dietary
10 requirements; provided, however, that if one or more incarcerated indi-
11 viduals housed at the facility requires food products that conform to a
12 higher religious dietary standard, such products shall also be made
13 available through the commissary upon request of the individual requir-
14 ing such options.
15 2. Each correctional facility shall provide food options for purchase
16 from vending machines located in the visitor's area of the facility that
17 satisfy the requirements of religious dietary needs of the incarcerated
18 individuals housed at the facility, including, but not limited to halal
19 foods and kosher foods.
20 3. For food options available through both the commissary and from
21 vending machines, the prices for food options that conform to the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08752-06-3
S. 4748--B 2
1 requirements of this section shall be comparable to the cost of food
2 options that do not conform to the requirements of this section.
3 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
4 have become a law.
