NY State Senate Bill 2023-S4918

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to crime victims, crime and correction
Feb 17, 2023	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

co-Sponsors

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §259-i, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S7651
2021-2022: S2787
2025-2026: S5802

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to incarcerated individual interviews by the state board of parole; requires such parole board interviews of incarcerated individuals to be conducted in person and in the correctional facility where such incarcerated individual is housed.

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4918

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to incarcerated individ-
ual interviews by the state board of parole

 
PURPOSE:

To require in-person parole interviews instead of video interviews.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Sections 1 and 2 amend Executive Law 259-i(2)(a)to require the board to
conduct in-person parole interviews inside correctional facilities.
Section 3 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Since 1997, most parole interviews have been conducted by video confer-

ence. Prior to that time, all interviews were in person inside of
correctional facilities. Video conferencing was introduced to make the
system more efficient, but is in fact maximally inefficient.  Three
parole board commissioners now drive from their home offices, usually in
different parts of the state, to a video conference center at a parole
office near the prison where the parole applicant is housed. For exam-
ple, a parole interview for a prisoner at Elmira Correctional Facility
may include a commissioner from Buffalo, a commissioner from Albany and
a commissioner from New York City, each traveling separately to a parole
office in Syracuse.

Inmate records are not digitalized so DOCCS employees must also travel
from the prisons where they work to the video conferencing sites, bring-
ing the applicants' paper records with them. The DOCCS employees, who,
unlike the commissioners, are paid time and a half for overtime if the
interviews extend past their normal shifts, stay with the records until
the commissioners have finished all their interviews for the day.
Reportedly, there is pressure on the commissioners to keep interviews
short so that DOCCS will not incur overtime charges. Commissioners may
interview 30-35 people in day, without breaks, trying to fit them all
into an 8-hour shift.

Parole commissioners generally use state cars to travel to the video
conference sites and stay overnight, or sometimes two nights, in hotels
near the parole offices where the video conferencing equipment is set
up. There is no cost savings for travel to video conferencing centers,
since they are going to the same areas where the prisoners are housed
and staying in hotels, just as they would if they actually traveled to
the prisons to interview prisoners. According to the Daily News, the
Department of Corrections spent approximately $270,000 over five years
for parole commissioner travel expenses, a number that would not change
much were the commissioners to travel to the prisons themselves rather
than the video conference centers. This is a negligible amount of money
in a 3 billion dollar budget for the department, which would be more
than offset by eliminating travel by DOCCS employees to bring the
records to the commissioners.


Most importantly, the video interviews are dehumanizing and make prison-
ers uncomfortable and nervous. The parole applicants can only see one of
the three commissioners at a time on the video screens used by DOCCS. If
a commissioner bends down, or twists around, only his or her shoulders
may be visible on the screen. It is nearly impossible for either the
commissioners or the parole applicants to make eye contact or read body
language. The individuals seeking parole cannot tell what the off-camera
parole commissioners are doing during the interview. Since most people
who have been incarcerated for long sentences are not tech savvy, having
spent years or decades in a technology-free environment, they tend to be
uncomfortable with any use of technology, lefalone the primitive video
conferencing used by the Board. It is difficult to build rapport, evalu-
ate demeanor or accurately assess a person's sincerity under the condi-
tions set up by the Board for video interviews. Both prisoners and
parole commissioners have expressed a strong preference for in-person
interviews.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.2787 of 2021-22: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction;

S.7651 of 2020: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None or a slight savings

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This law shall take effect on year after the date on which it shall have
become a law; provided that the amendments to paragraph (a) of subdivi-
sion 2 of section 259-i of the executive law made by section two of this
act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such subdivision
pursuant to subdivision d of section 74 of chapter 3 of the laws of
1995, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of section three of
this act shall take effect.

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4918
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 17, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed  to  be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and
   Correction
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to incarcerated  individ-
   ual interviews by the state board of parole

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph (i) of  paragraph  (a)  of  subdivision  2  of
 section  259-i of the executive law, as amended by section 14 of chapter
 486 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
   (i) Except as provided in subparagraph  (ii)  of  this  paragraph,  at
 least  one  month  prior to the date on which an incarcerated individual
 may be paroled pursuant to subdivision one of section 70.40 of the penal
 law, a member or members as determined by the rules of the  board  shall
 [personally]  CONDUCT  AN IN-PERSON interview OF such incarcerated indi-
 vidual IN THE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WHERE HE OR SHE IS HOUSED and deter-
 mine whether he or she should be paroled in accordance with  the  guide-
 lines  adopted  pursuant  to  subdivision  four  of  section two hundred
 fifty-nine-c of this article. If parole is not granted upon such review,
 the incarcerated individual shall be  informed  in  writing  within  two
 weeks  of  such appearance of the factors and reasons for such denial of
 parole. Such reasons shall be given in  detail  and  not  in  conclusory
 terms.  The  board shall specify a date not more than twenty-four months
 from such determination for reconsideration, and the  procedures  to  be
 followed  upon  reconsideration  shall  be the same. If the incarcerated
 individual is released, he or she shall be given a copy  of  the  condi-
 tions  of  parole.  Such  conditions  shall where appropriate, include a
 requirement that the parolee comply with any restitution order, mandato-
 ry surcharge, sex offender registration fee and DNA databank fee  previ-
 ously  imposed  by a court of competent jurisdiction that applies to the
 parolee. The conditions  shall  indicate  which  restitution  collection
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09369-01-3

 S. 4918                             2
 
 agency  established  under  subdivision  eight  of section 420.10 of the
 criminal procedure law, shall be responsible for collection of  restitu-
 tion,  mandatory surcharge, sex offender registration fees and DNA data-
 bank  fees as provided for in section 60.35 of the penal law and section
 eighteen hundred nine of the vehicle and traffic law. If the incarcerat-
 ed individual is released, he or she shall also be notified  in  writing
 that his or her voting rights will be restored upon release.
   §  2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 259-i of the executive
 law, as amended by section 15 of chapter 486 of the  laws  of  2022,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   (a)  At  least one month prior to the expiration of the minimum period
 or periods of imprisonment fixed by the court  or  board,  a  member  or
 members  as  determined  by  the  rules  of the board shall [personally]
 CONDUCT AN IN-PERSON interview OF an incarcerated individual serving  an
 indeterminate  sentence  IN THE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WHERE HE OR SHE IS
 HOUSED and determine whether he or she should be paroled at the  expira-
 tion  of the minimum period or periods in accordance with the procedures
 adopted pursuant to subdivision four of section two hundred fifty-nine-c
 of this article. If parole is not granted upon such review,  the  incar-
 cerated individual shall be informed in writing within two weeks of such
 appearance  of  the  factors and reasons for such denial of parole. Such
 reasons shall be given in detail and not in conclusory terms. The  board
 shall specify a date not more than twenty-four months from such determi-
 nation  for  reconsideration,  and  the  procedures  to be followed upon
 reconsideration shall be the same. If  the  incarcerated  individual  is
 released,  he  or she shall be given a copy of the conditions of parole.
 Such conditions shall where appropriate, include a requirement that  the
 parolee comply with any restitution order and mandatory surcharge previ-
 ously  imposed  by a court of competent jurisdiction that applies to the
 parolee. The conditions  shall  indicate  which  restitution  collection
 agency  established  under  subdivision  eight  of section 420.10 of the
 criminal procedure law, shall be responsible for collection of  restitu-
 tion  and  mandatory  surcharge  as provided for in section 60.35 of the
 penal law and section eighteen hundred nine of the vehicle  and  traffic
 law. If the incarcerated individual is released, he or she shall also be
 notified  in writing that his or her voting rights will be restored upon
 release.
   § 3. This act shall take effect one year after the date  on  which  it
 shall  have become a law; provided, that the amendments to paragraph (a)
 of subdivision 2 of section 259-i of the executive law made  by  section
 one of this act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such
 subdivision  pursuant to subdivision d of section 74 of chapter 3 of the
 laws of 1995, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of  section
 two of this act shall take effect.

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Senate Bill S4918

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

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co-Sponsors

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Luis R. Sepúlveda

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

Actions

co-Sponsors

Leroy Comrie

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S4918 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments