Committee on Criminal Justice

This bill would require the Department of Correction to develop a comprehensive training program for investigations of sexual crimes. All Department of Correction investigators would be required to complete the training, and the Department of Correction would be required to make annual reports on the training program, including its components, the number of investigators who participated in the training, and the experts consulted in developing the training.

This bill would amend Local Law 145 of 2019, which established a task force to address policies related to the treatment and housing of transgender, gender nonconforming, non-binary, and intersex individuals in the custody of the Department of Correction. The bill would amend the minimum duration date of the task force to be one year after the issuance of the fifth annual task force report, require that the task force self-elect a chair, require a Speaker appointee instead of a Council appointee as a task force member, and provide for ways that the Department of Correction and Correctional Health Services must substantively participate in the task force. The task force would be required to elect a chair within 90 days of the effective date of this bill. This bill would also make various amendments to update and clarify language.

This bill would require city contractors or subcontractors who operate a supervised release program to notify the court and all court parties regarding a missed telephone contact or office visit from one of their program participants within 10 days for participants under Tier 1, or lower level, supervision, or within 5 days for participants under Tier 2, or higher level, supervision.

This bill would require the Department of Correction to ensure that members of the public depositing funds into institutional fund account established pursuant to subdivision 7 of section 500-c of the Correction Law are not charged a service fee that is more than $5.

This bill would limit the assignment of tours of duty for Department of Correction (“DOC”) custodial officers to not more than two consecutive tours of duty. The bill would establish a tour of duty as consisting of not more than 8 consecutive hours. Assignment of additional hours into a third consecutive tour of duty would be prohibited.

This bill would establish a process for people in custody to obtain wigs, hair extensions, chest binders, tucking undergarments or gaffs, prosthetics, or other similar items or medical devices that are used by individuals to affirm their self-determined gender identity. The bill also requires Department of Correction staff to have access to gender-affirming items or medical devices while at work.

This bill would require the Commissioner of Correction to collaborate with the Board of Elections to create procedures for curing ballots for voters in the custody of the Department of Correction. The Commissioner would also be charged with helping incarcerated voters get new ballots when their previous ballot has an uncurable defect. Additionally, this bill would require the Department of Correction to report on statistics over the last five years regarding curing ballots for voters in their custody, such as how many cure affirmations were delivered to voters in their custody and how many cure affirmations were returned to the Board of Elections, as well as collaborating with the Department of Correction to determine how many ballots had uncurable defects and how many ballots were ultimately rejected and not counted.

This bill would require the Department of Correction to assess all incarcerated individuals for their risk of sexual victimization at intake and when transferred between facilities. This bill would also create an appeals process for transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex individuals who requested specific housing based on identifying as such. This bill would also empower the Board of Correction to issue opinions regarding appeals of housing requests related to gender identity.

This bill would prohibit the Department of Correction (“DOC”) from recording voice communications or electronic communications, such as text messages and emails, made by or to individuals in DOC custody, except pursuant to a warrant or with the express consent of one party to such communication. This bill would also prohibit DOC from collecting or purchasing location data of individuals initiating or receiving voice or electronic communications from individuals in DOC custody. This bill would also prohibit DOC from collecting or purchasing biometric voice information, such as voiceprints, from individuals in DOC custody or individuals initiating or receiving voice or electronic communications from individuals in DOC custody. Finally, this bill would create a private right of action for anyone whose voice or electronic communications were unlawfully recorded, monitored, or otherwise surveilled or whose location data or biometric voice information was unlawfully collected, retained, or disclosed.

This bill would require the Department of Correction to provide free videoconferencing services to individuals within the custody of the department.