N.Y. COR Law § 70 — New York Code / Act COR / Article 4 / Section 70
Establishment, use and designation of correctional facilities
Status: in_force

§ 70. Establishment, use and designation of correctional facilities.\n1.  (a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this\nsubdivision, every institution operated by the department for the\nconfinement of persons under sentence of imprisonment, or for the\nconfinement of persons committed for failure to pay a fine, shall be a\ncorrectional facility.\n  (b) An institution operated by the department for the care and\nconfinement of persons who have been found to be mentally defective or\nmentally ill by a court and who are confined in such place pursuant to\nan order of a court based upon such finding shall not be deemed to be a\ncorrectional facility.\n  (c) An institution operated by the department as a drug treatment\ncampus, as defined in subdivision twenty of section two of this chapter\nand used to provide intensive drug treatment services for parolees and\ncertain parole violators, shall not be deemed to be a correctional\nfacility.\n  2. Correctional facilities shall be used for the purpose of providing\nplaces of confinement and programs of treatment for persons in the\ncustody of the department. Such use shall be suited, to the greatest\nextent practicable, to the objective of assisting sentenced persons to\nlive as law abiding citizens. In furtherance of this objective the\ndepartment may establish and maintain any type of institution or program\nof treatment, not inconsistent with other provisions of law, but with\ndue regard to:\n  (a) The safety and security of the community;\n  (b) The right of every person in the custody of the department to\nreceive humane treatment; and\n  (c) The health and safety of every person in the custody of the\ndepartment.\n  3. (a) The commissioner may continue to maintain, as a correctional\nfacility, any institution operated by the department prior to May\neighth, nineteen hundred seventy, and may add to or close any such\nplace, and may establish and maintain new correctional facilities, in\naccordance with the needs of the department and provided expenditures\nfor such purposes are within amounts made available therefor by\nappropriation; provided, however, that before the closure of any\ncorrectional facility, for reasons other than those set forth in\nparagraph (a) of subdivision eight of section forty-five of this\nchapter, the provisions of section seventy-nine-a of this article shall\nbe adhered to.\n  (b) A correctional camp or a shock incarceration correctional facility\nmay be established by the department (i) upon land controlled and\ndesignated by the commissioner, or (ii) on land controlled and\ndesignated by the commissioner of parks, recreation and historic\npreservation or, in the sixth park region, by the commissioner of\nenvironmental conservation.\n  4. Two or more correctional facilities may be maintained or\nestablished in the same building or on the same premises so long as the\nincarcerated individuals of each are at all times kept separate and\napart from each other except that the incarcerated individuals of one\nmay be permitted to have contact with incarcerated individuals of the\nother in order to perform duties, receive therapeutic treatment, attend\nreligious services and engage in like activities as specifically\nprovided in the rules and regulations of the department.\n  5. Each correctional facility must be designated in the rules and\nregulations of the department and no correctional facility can be used\nby the department for confinement of persons unless the rules and\nregulations of the department specify at least the following:\n  (a) The name and location of the facility;\n  (b) Whether the facility is to be used for the confinement of males or\nfor the confinement of females;\n  (c) The age range of the persons who may be confined in the facility;\nand\n  (d) The classification of the facility.\n  6. Correctional facilities shall be classified by the commissioner in\naccordance with the following types of classifications:\n  (a) Each facility shall be classified with respect to the type of\nsecurity maintained as either a maximum, medium or minimum security\nfacility.\n  (b) Each facility shall be classified with respect to the function\nserved in accordance with one or more of the following categories: (i)\nreception center; (ii) residential treatment facility; (iii) detention\ncenter; (iv) correctional camp; (v) diagnostic and treatment center;\n(vi) general confinement facility; (vii) work release facility; (viii)\nshock incarceration correctional facility; (ix) alcohol and substance\nabuse treatment facility; (x) alcohol and substance abuse treatment\ncorrectional annex.\n  7. The commissioner shall have the authority to enter into leases\nwithin the amount appropriated therefor, for the purpose of maintaining\nor establishing any correctional facility or any adjunct thereto.\n  8. The commissioner is authorized to enter into contracts, within the\namount appropriated therefor, with any university, social agency or\nqualified person to render professional services to any correctional\nfacility.\n