Senate Bill S5009

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5009

SPONSOR: WALCZYK
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to the use of canines
for contraband screening at certain correctional facilities

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This legislation would ensure that every Correctional Facility in New
York with a minimum of one hundred inmates to have a drug sniffing
canine.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends the Correction Law, to ensure that correc-
tional facilities with at least one hundred inmates have a drug sniffing
canine on site.

Section 2 sets the effective date.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Drug use is a crisis that has swept across our nation. Even those who
are incarcerated are able to smuggle destructive drugs into our state
correctional facilities, endangering inmates and correction officers.  A
major problem in fighting this drug epidemic is that correction officers
lack adequate resources to keep contraband drugs out of the hands of
inmates.

This legislation seeks to address that problem. Correction officers and
correctional facility superintendents have indicated that drug sniffing
dogs act as an excellent deterrent to prison drug smuggling, discourag-
ing visitors from physically bringing harmful drugs into correctional
facility, and helping to identify illegal substances that may be sent
via mail.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A8703/S7640 (2019): Referred to Crime Victims, Crime, and Correction

A4712/S1685 (2021): Referred to Crime Victims, Crime, and Correction

A3038/S4286 (2023): Referred to Crime Victims, Crime, and Correction

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This Act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall become a
law.