BILL NUMBER:  S867

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to parole violators in
Jefferson, Oswego, and Saint Lawrence counties; and providing for the
repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof

 PURPOSE :

To establish a two year pilot program in the counties of Jefferson,
Oswego, and Saint Lawrence for parole violators to be transferred to a
state correctional facility after 10 business days in a local
correctional facility.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 amends the Correction Law by adding a new section 23-a,
which establishes that in the counties of Jefferson, Oswego, and Saint
Lawrence, after a period of ten business days in a local correctional
facility those individuals in violation of their parole be heard by
the court and either transferred to a state facility at the cost of
the Department of Correction and Community Supervision, granted an
extension by the local court, or released by the local court.

Section 2 provides the effective date.
              

 JUSTIFICATION :

When incarcerated persons are released on parole from state
facilities, violators should be punished. Currently, those who violate
their parole are often held at local facilities while appeals and
extensions on hearing the violation are granted by the court. The
defendant must appear before the court within 10 business days of the
court's notice to appear. The time the violator spends in the local
correctional facility is credited to their sentence and can last for
the sentence's duration.

This bill will give the court the option to grant an extension up to
20 days for the defendant's stay at the local correctional facility.
Under the current law, the parole violator is transferred by
Department of Correctional and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to a
state facility. This bill permits the parole violator to stay at the
local correction facility, but requires DOCCS to reimburse the local
facility for the cost of the temporary detainment of the parole
violator.

With overcrowding issues in local facilities at significant cost to
the localities, it is important to implement policies that will
require the state to be responsible for detaining violators of the
parole they set. It is wrong for the localities to berthed cost of
detaining the state's prisoners who have been released on parole.

 HISTORY :

2015-2016: S3306 Passed the Senate/A.5210 Held for consideration in
Correction.
2013-2014: S.5423 Passed the Senate / A.7933 Referred to Correction

 FISCAL IMPACT :

Significant cost savings will be realized by the counties while the
State Department of Correctional and Community Supervision will take
on additional costs. Overall, more efficiency and cost savings will be
realized as it is generally more expensive to house prisoners at
county correctional facilities than at state facilities.
 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the 120th day after it shall have become
Law and shall expire and be deemed repealed two years after such
effective date. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
this act on its effective date is authorized to be made on or before
such date.