2019 New York Laws
COR - Correction
Article 3 - State Commission of Correction
45 - Functions, Powers and Duties of the Commission.

§  45.  Functions, powers and duties of the commission. The commission
shall have the following functions, powers and duties:
  1. Advise and assist the governor in developing  policies,  plans  and
programs for improving the administration of correctional facilities and
the delivery of services therein.
  2.  Make  recommendations to administrators of correctional facilities
for improving the administration of such correctional facilities and the
delivery of services therein.
  3.  Except  in  circumstances  involving  health,  safety  or  alleged
violations  of  established  standards  of  the  commission,  visit, and
inspect correctional facilities consistent with a schedule determined by
the chairman of the  commission,  taking  into  consideration  available
resources,  workload  and  staffing, and appraise the management of such
correctional facilities with  specific  attention  to  matters  such  as
safety, security, health of inmates, sanitary conditions, rehabilitative
programs,  disturbance and fire prevention and control preparedness, and
adherence to laws and regulations governing the rights of inmates.
  4.  Establish  procedures  to  assure   effective   investigation   of
grievances  of,  and conditions affecting, inmates of local correctional
facilities.  Such procedures shall include but not be limited to receipt
of written complaints, interviews of persons, and on-site monitoring  of
conditions.   In addition, the commission shall establish procedures for
the speedy and impartial review of grievances  referred  to  it  by  the
commissioner of the department of corrections and community supervision.
  5.  Ascertain  and  recommend  such  system  of  employing  inmates of
correctional facilities as may, in the opinion of  said  commission,  be
for  the  best  interest  of  the  public and of said inmates and not in
conflict with the provisions of the constitution or laws  of  the  state
relating to the employment of inmates.
  6. Promulgate rules and regulations establishing minimum standards for
the review of the construction or improvement of correctional facilities
and  the  care, custody, correction, treatment, supervision, discipline,
and other correctional programs for all persons confined in correctional
facilities. Such  rules  and  regulations  shall  be  forwarded  to  the
governor,  the  temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the
assembly no later than January first, nineteen hundred  seventy-six  and
annually thereafter.
  6-a.  Promulgate  rules  and  regulations  to  assure  that persons in
custody in local correctional  facilities,  including  persons  awaiting
arraignment,  are  furnished or have access to the type of food required
by their religious dietary rules or medically prescribed diets, if any.
  6-b. Promulgate  rules  and  regulations,  in  consultation  with  the
division  for  youth,  establishing  minimum  standards  for  the  care,
custody, rehabilitation, treatment, supervision,  discipline  and  other
programs for correctional facilities operated by the division for youth.
  7. Place such members of its staff as it deems appropriate as monitors
in  any  local  correctional  facility  which,  in  the  judgment of the
commission, presents  an  imminent  danger  to  the  health,  safety  or
security of the inmates or employees of such correctional facility or of
the public.
  8.  (a) Close any correctional facility which is unsafe, unsanitary or
inadequate to provide for the separation and classification of prisoners
required by law or which has not adhered to or complied with  the  rules
or  regulations  promulgated  with  respect  to any such facility by the
commission pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  subdivision  six  of  this
section;  provided, however, that before such facility may be closed due
to conditions which are unsafe, unsanitary or inadequate to provide  for
the  separation  and  classification  of prisoners, the commission shall

cause a citation to be mailed to  the  appropriate  municipal  or  other
official  at  least ten days before the return day thereof directing the
responsible authorities designated to appear before such  commission  at
the  time  and  place set forth in the citation, and show cause why such
correctional facility should not be closed. After a hearing  thereon  or
upon  the  failure to appear, such commission is empowered to order such
facility designated in the citation closed within  twenty  days,  during
which  time the respondent authority may review such order in the manner
provided in article seventy-eight of the civil practice law  and  rules,
in  the  supreme  court.  Fifteen days after the order to close has been
served by a registered letter upon the appropriate official if no  court
review  has  been  taken,  and  fifteen  days  after  the  order of such
commission has been confirmed by the court, in  case  of  court  review,
such  facility  designated in the order shall be closed, and it shall be
unlawful to confine  or  detain  any  person  therein  and  any  officer
confining  or  detaining any person therein shall be guilty of a class A
misdemeanor.
  (b) Before a correctional facility as defined in subdivision  four  of
section two of this chapter, may be closed for a reason other than those
set  forth  in  paragraph  (a)  of  this  subdivision, the provisions of
section seventy-nine-a of this chapter shall be adhered to.
  10. Approve or reject plans and specifications for the construction or
improvement of correctional facilities that directly affect  the  health
of inmates and staff, safety, or security.
  12.  Make  an annual report to the governor and legislature concerning
its work and the work of the board and the council during the  preceding
year,  and  such  further  interim  reports  to  the governor, or to the
governor and legislature, as it shall deem advisable,  or  as  shall  be
required by the governor.
  13.  Accept,  with the approval of the governor, as agent of the state
any grant, including federal grants, or any gift for any of the purposes
of this  article.  Any  moneys  so  received  may  be  expended  by  the
commission  to  effectuate  any  purpose of this article, subject to the
same limitations as  to  approval  of  expenditures  and  audit  as  are
prescribed  for  state  moneys  appropriated  for  the  purposes of this
article.
  14.  Enter  into  contracts  with  any  person,   firm,   corporation,
municipality, or governmental agency.
  15.  Adopt,  amend  or  rescind  such  rules and regulations as may be
necessary or convenient to the performance of the functions, powers  and
duties of the commission.
  16.  Do  all  other  things  necessary  or convenient to carry out its
functions, powers and duties expressly set forth in this article.
  * 17. Make an annual report to  the  governor,  the  chairman  of  the
assembly  committee  on  correction  and  the  chairman  of  the  senate
committee on crime victims,  crime  and  correction  concerning  inmates
confined  in  local  correctional  facilities  pursuant  to an agreement
authorized by section five hundred-o of this chapter. Such report  shall
include  but  not  be limited to the number of counties maintaining such
agreements  and  the  number  of  inmates  confined  pursuant  to   such
agreements.
  * NB Repealed September 1, 2020