2025 New York Laws
COR - Correction
Article 6 - Management of Correctional Facilities
112 - Powers and Duties of Commissioner Relating to Correctional Facilities and Community Supervision.

§  112.  Powers  and  duties  of commissioner relating to correctional
facilities and community supervision. 1. The commissioner of corrections
and community supervision shall have the superintendence, management and
control of the correctional facilities in  the  department  and  of  the
incarcerated  individuals  confined therein, and of all matters relating
to the government, discipline, policing, contracts and  fiscal  concerns
thereof.  He or she shall have the power and it shall be his or her duty
to inquire into all matters connected with said correctional facilities.
He or she shall make such rules and regulations, not  in  conflict  with
the statutes of this state, for the government of the officers and other
employees  of  the department assigned to said facilities, and in regard
to the duties to be performed  by  them,  and  for  the  government  and
discipline  of each correctional facility, as he or she may deem proper,
and shall cause such  rules  and  regulations  to  be  recorded  by  the
superintendent  of  the  facility, and a copy thereof to be furnished to
each employee assigned to the facility. He or she shall also prescribe a
system of accounts and records to be kept at each correctional facility,
which system shall be uniform at all of said facilities, and he  or  she
shall  also  make  rules and regulations for a record of photographs and
other means of identifying each incarcerated  individual  received  into
said  facilities.  He  or  she  shall appoint and remove, subject to the
civil service law, subordinate  officers  and  other  employees  of  the
department who are assigned to correctional facilities.
2.  The  commissioner shall have the management and control of persons
released on community supervision and of all matters  relating  to  such
persons'  effective reentry into the community, as well as all contracts
and fiscal concerns thereof. The commissioner shall have the  power  and
it  shall  be his or her duty to inquire into all matters connected with
said community supervision. The commissioner shall make such  rules  and
regulations,  not  in  conflict with the statutes of this state, for the
governance of  the  officers  and  other  employees  of  the  department
assigned  to  said community supervision, and in regard to the duties to
be performed by them, as he or she deems proper  and  shall  cause  such
rules  and  regulations  to  be  furnished  to each employee assigned to
perform community supervision. The commissioner shall also  prescribe  a
system  of  accounts and records to be kept, which shall be uniform. The
commissioner shall also make rules  and  regulations  for  a  record  of
photographs  and other means of identifying each incarcerated individual
released  to  community  supervision.  The  commissioner  shall  appoint
officers  and  other  employees  of  the  department who are assigned to
perform community supervision.
3. The commissioner may require reports from the superintendent or any
other officer or employee of the department assigned to any correctional
facility or to perform community supervision in relation to his  or  her
conduct as such officer or employee, and shall have the power to inquire
into any improper conduct which may be alleged to have been committed by
any  person  at any correctional facility or in the course of his or her
performance of community supervision, and  for  that  purpose  to  issue
subpoenas  to  compel  the  attendance  of witnesses, and the production
before him or her of books, writings and papers. A subpoena issued under
this section shall be regulated by the civil practice law and rules.
4. The commissioner and the chair  of  the  parole  board  shall  work
jointly  to  develop  and  implement, as soon as practicable, a risk and
needs assessment instrument or instruments, which shall  be  empirically
validated,  that  would be administered to incarcerated individuals upon
reception  into  a   correctional   facility,   and   throughout   their
incarceration  and  release  to  community  supervision,  to  facilitate
appropriate  programming  both  during  an   incarcerated   individual's
incarceration  and community supervision, and designed to facilitate the
successful integration of incarcerated individuals into the community.
5. (a) The commissioner shall not make or promulgate any policy and/or
regulation  requiring  an incarcerated individual to waive any religious
right, including, but not limited to, daily prayer as  a  condition  for
participation  in any incarcerated individual program including any such
program developed and/or implemented pursuant  to  subdivision  four  of
this  section  including,  but not limited to, the shock program and the
industrial training program.
  (b) Upon request, incarcerated individuals shall be granted exemptions
for activities, including jobs, that coincide with the Sabbath and other
work proscription days, including  those  set  forth  in  the  religious
calendar.
6.  (a)  The  commissioner  shall  promulgate rules and regulations to
establish  and  maintain  an  annual  heat  mitigation  plan  to  ensure
incarcerated  individuals  and  correctional facility staff have options
available to stay cool, hydrated and safe during high heat temperatures.
Such plan shall include, to the extent possible:
  (i) access to industrial fans, water, ice, and  additional  access  to
showers;
  (ii)  commissaries  fully  stocked  with  personal  fans  prior to the
beginning of summer;
  (iii) monitoring temperatures in housing, program and industry areas;
  (iv) maintaining a list of incarcerated individuals  and  correctional
facility   staff  who  have  medical  conditions  that  make  them  more
susceptible to heat and monitor their well-being;
  (v) increased rounds and wellness checks; and
  (vi)  providing  shade  on  exercise  yards  if  consistent  with  the
facility's safety and security protocols.
  (b)  The  commissioner,  as  part  of such heat mitigation plan, shall
evaluate the  financial  and  operational  feasibility  of  establishing
cooling  stations  and  a permanent sustainable cooling solution at each
facility, provided that upon a determination or finding that a permanent
sustainable  cooling  solution  is  feasible  in  each   facility,   the
commissioner  shall develop a timeline to implement the findings of such
evaluation.