2019 New York Laws
COR - Correction
Article 4 - Establishment of Correctional Facilities, Commitments to Department and Custody of Inmates
77 - Adolescent Offender Facilities.

§ 77. Adolescent offender facilities. 1. (a) The state shall establish
one  or  more  facilities  with enhanced security features and specially
trained  staff  to  serve  the  adolescent  offenders  sentenced  to   a
determinate  or  indeterminate  sentence  for  committing offenses on or
after their sixteenth birthday who are determined to  need  an  enhanced
level  of  secure care which shall be managed by the department with the
office of children and  family  services  assistance,  and  services  or
programs.
  (b)  A  council  comprised  of  the  commissioner,  and  the office of
children and family services, the commissioner of the  state  commission
of  correction, and the commissioner of the division of criminal justice
services shall be established to assess the operation of  the  facility.
The governor shall designate the chair of the council. The council shall
have  the  power  to  perform all acts necessary to carry out its duties
including making unannounced visits and inspections of the  facility  at
any  time.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of  state law to the
contrary, the council may request and the department shall submit to the
council, to the extent permitted by federal law, all information in  the
form  and  manner  and  at such times as the council may require that is
appropriate to the purposes and operation of the  council.  The  council
shall  be  subject to the same laws as apply to the department regarding
the protection and confidentiality of the information made available  to
the  council  and  shall  prevent access thereto by, or the distribution
thereof to, persons not authorized by law.
  (c)  Appropriate  staff  working  in  such  facilities  shall  receive
specialized  training  to address working with the types of youth placed
in the facility, which shall include but not be limited to, training  on
tactical  responses  and  de-escalation  techniques.  All  staff  of the
facility shall be subject to random drug tests.
  2. The  office  of  children  and  family  services  shall  assign  an
assistant  commissioner  to assist the department, on a permanent basis,
with programs or services provided within such facilities.
  3. The department, the state commission of correction and  the  office
of  children  and  family  services  shall jointly establish a placement
classification protocol to be used to determine the appropriate level of
care for each adolescent offender in such facility. The  protocol  shall
include,  but not necessarily be limited to, consideration of the nature
of the youth's offense and the youth's history and service needs.
  4. Any new facilities developed by the department in consultation with
the office of children and family services to serve the youth  committed
as  adolescent  offenders  as  a  result  of raising the age of juvenile
jurisdiction shall, to the extent practicable, consist of smaller,  more
home-like  facilities  located  near the youths' homes and families that
provide gender-responsive programming, services and treatment in  small,
closely  supervised  groups that offer extensive and on-going individual
attention and encourage supportive peer relationships.
  5. Adolescent offenders committed or transferred to the  facility,  as
defined  in  this  section  for  committing  a  crime  on or after their
sixteenth birthday who still  have  time  left  on  their  sentences  of
imprisonment  shall be transferred to a non-adolescent offender facility
in the  department  for  confinement  pursuant  to  this  chapter  after
completing  two years in an adolescent offender facility unless they are
within four months of  completing  the  imprisonment  portion  of  their
sentence  and  the  department  determines,  in  its  discretion,  on  a
case-by-case basis that the youth should be permitted to remain in  such
facility  for  the  additional  short period of time necessary to enable
them to complete their sentence. In making  such  a  determination,  the
factors the department may consider include, but are not limited to, the

age  of  the youth, the amount of time remaining on the youth's sentence
of imprisonment, the level of the youth's participation in the  program,
the  youth's  educational  and  vocational  progress,  the opportunities
available  to  the  youth  through the department, and the length of any
applicable  post-release   supervision   sentence.   Nothing   in   this
subdivision  shall  authorize  a youth to remain in such facility beyond
his or her twenty-third birthday.