2010 New York Code
EXC - Executive
Article 12-B - (259 - 259-S) STATE DIVISION OF PAROLE
259-A - Division of parole; functions, powers and duties.

§ 259-a. Division  of parole; functions, powers and duties. Subject to
  the authority of the  chairman:  1.  The  division  shall  cause  to  be
  obtained  and  filed  as soon as practicable, information as complete as
  may be obtainable with regard to each  inmate  who  is  received  in  an
  institution   under   the   jurisdiction  of  the  state  department  of
  correctional  services.  Such  information  shall  include  a   complete
  statement  of  the  crime  for  which the inmate has been sentenced, the
  circumstances of such crime, all presentence memoranda,  the  nature  of
  the sentence, any orders of protection or temporary orders of protection
  issued  against the inmate at the time of sentencing, the court in which
  he was sentenced, the name of the judge and district attorney and copies
  of such probation reports as may have been made as well as reports as to
  the inmate's social, physical,  mental  and  psychiatric  condition  and
  history.
    2.  The  division  shall  cause  complete  records to be kept of every
  person  on  presumptive  release,   parole,   conditional   release   or
  post-release  supervision.  Such  records  shall contain the aliases and
  photograph of each such person, and the other information referred to in
  subdivision one of this section,  as  well  as  all  reports  of  parole
  officers  in  relation to such persons. Such records shall be maintained
  by the division and may be made available as deemed appropriate  by  the
  chairman  for  use  by  the  department  of  correctional  services, the
  commissioner of mental health, the commissioner  of  mental  retardation
  and  developmental disabilities, the case review panel, and the attorney
  general pursuant to  section  10.05  of  the  mental  hygiene  law,  the
  division,  and  the  board of parole. Such records shall be organized in
  accordance with methods of filing and indexing designed  to  insure  the
  immediate availability of complete information about such persons.
    3.  The  division  shall  have  responsibility  for the preparation of
  reports and other data required by the state  board  of  parole  in  the
  exercise of its functions.
    4.  In  accordance  with  the provisions of this chapter, the division
  shall supervise inmates released on parole or conditional release, or to
  post-release supervision, except that the division may  consent  to  the
  supervision  of a released inmate by the United States parole commission
  pursuant to the witness security act of nineteen hundred eighty-four.
    4-a. To facilitate the supervision of all inmates released  on  parole
  or  conditional release, or to post-release supervision, the chairman of
  the state board of parole shall consider the implementation of a program
  of graduated sanctions, including but not limited to the utilization  of
  a risk and needs assessment instrument that would be administered to all
  inmates  eligible  for  parole supervision. Such a program would include
  various components including approaches that concentrate supervision  on
  new   releases,  alternatives  to  incarceration  for  technical  parole
  violators and the use of enhanced technologies.
    5. The division shall conduct such investigations as may be  necessary
  in  connection  with  alleged violations of presumptive release, parole,
  conditional release or post-release supervision.
    6. The division shall assist inmates eligible for presumptive release,
  parole  or  conditional  release,  inmates  released   to   post-release
  supervision   and  inmates  who  are  on  presumptive  release,  parole,
  conditional release or post-release supervision  to  secure  employment,
  educational or vocational training, and housing.
    6-a.  The  division  shall  have the duty to provide written notice to
  persons  who  are  serving  a  term  of  parole,   parole   supervision,
  conditional  release  or  post release supervision of any requirement to
  report to the office of victim services any funds of a convicted  person
  as  defined  in  section  six  hundred thirty-two-a of this chapter, the

procedure for such reporting and any potential penalty for a failure  to
  comply.
    7.  The  division  shall  encourage  apprenticeship  training  of such
  persons through the assistance and cooperation of industrial, commercial
  and labor organizations.
    8. The division may establish a parole  transition  program  which  is
  hereby defined as community-based residential facilities designed to aid
  presumptive   release,   parole,  conditional  release  or  post-release
  supervision violators develop an increased capacity  for  adjustment  to
  community living. Presumptive releasees, parolees, conditional releasees
  and  those under post-release supervision who have either (i) been found
  pursuant to section two hundred fifty-nine-i of  this  article  to  have
  violated  one  or more conditions of release in an important respect, or
  (ii) who have allegedly violated one or more of such conditions  upon  a
  finding  of  probable  cause at a preliminary hearing or upon the waiver
  thereof may be placed in a parole transition facility.  Placement  in  a
  parole  transition  facility  upon  a  finding  of probable cause or the
  waiver thereof shall not preclude the conduct of a  revocation  hearing,
  nor,  absent  a  waiver,  operate  to  deny the releasee's right to such
  revocation hearing.
    * 9. (a) The division shall collect a fee of thirty dollars per month,
  from all persons over the age of eighteen who after the  effective  date
  of  this  subdivision  are  supervised  on  presumptive release, parole,
  conditional release or post-release supervision  by  the  division.  The
  division  shall  waive  all  or  part  of such fee where, because of the
  indigence of the offender,  the  payment  of  said  fee  would  work  an
  unreasonable  hardship  on  the  person  convicted, his or her immediate
  family, or any  other  person  who  is  dependent  on  such  person  for
  financial support.
    (b)  The  supervision  fee  authorized  by  this subdivision shall not
  constitute nor be imposed as a condition of parole supervision.
    (c) In the event of non-payment of any fees which have not been waived
  by the division, the division may seek to enforce payment in any  manner
  permitted by law for enforcement of a debt owed to the state.
    (d)  Nothing  contained  in  this  subdivision  affects  or limits the
  provisions of section two hundred fifty-nine-m of this article, relating
  to out-of-state parole  supervision.  Prior  to  a  transfer  of  parole
  supervision   to   another  state,  the  division  shall  eliminate  any
  supervision fee imposed pursuant to this subdivision. The  division  may
  collect  a fee, pursuant to this subdivision and regulations promulgated
  thereunder, from any person whose parole supervision is  transferred  to
  this state from another.
    (e)  The  chairman  of  the  division  shall  submit  a  report to the
  governor, temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly and
  the chairpersons of  the  senate  crime  and  correction  committee  and
  assembly  corrections committee, senate codes committee and the assembly
  codes  committee  on  or  before   January   first,   nineteen   hundred
  ninety-three  and  January first, nineteen hundred ninety-four regarding
  the division's experience with the parole supervision  fee.  The  report
  shall  include,  but  not  be  limited  to,  amounts of fees imposed and
  collected, rates of payment for different categories of convictions  and
  types  of  offenders,  and  remedies  utilized  and  costs  incurred for
  collection in cases of non-payment.
    * NB Expires September 1, 2011
    9-a. The division shall supervise all persons who  are  subject  to  a
  regimen  of  strict  and intensive supervision and treatment pursuant to
  article ten of the mental hygiene law. The board of parole  shall  issue
  and periodically update rules and regulations concerning the supervision

of  such  persons  in  consultation  with  the  office  of  sex offender
  management in the division of criminal justice services.
    10.  The  division shall perform such other functions as are necessary
  and proper in furtherance of the objective of maintaining an  effective,
  efficient and fair parole system.