2023 New York Laws › PEN - Penal › Part 2 - Sentences › Title E - Sentences › Article 70 - Sentences of Imprisonment › 70.20 - Place of Imprisonment.

§ 70.20 Place of imprisonment.
* 1.  (a) Indeterminate or determinate sentence. Except as provided in
subdivision four of this section, when an indeterminate  or  determinate
sentence  of  imprisonment  is  imposed,  the  court  shall  commit  the
defendant to the custody of the  state  department  of  corrections  and
community  supervision  for  the  term  of his or her sentence and until
released in accordance with the law; provided, however, that a defendant
sentenced pursuant to  subdivision  seven  of  section  70.06  shall  be
committed  to  the  custody  of  the state department of corrections and
community supervision for  immediate  delivery  to  a  reception  center
operated by the department.
(b)  The court in committing a defendant who is not yet eighteen years
of age to the department of corrections and community supervision  shall
inquire as to whether the parents or legal guardian of the defendant, if
present,  will  grant  to  the  minor the capacity to consent to routine
medical, dental and mental health services and treatment.
(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (b) of this subdivision, where the court
commits a defendant who is not yet eighteen years of age to the  custody
of the department of corrections and community supervision in accordance
with this section and no medical consent has been obtained prior to said
commitment,  the  commitment order shall be deemed to grant the capacity
to consent to routine medical, dental and  mental  health  services  and
treatment to the person so committed.
(d)  Nothing  in  this  subdivision  shall  preclude a parent or legal
guardian of an incarcerated individual who is not yet eighteen years  of
age  from making a motion on notice to the department of corrections and
community supervision  pursuant  to  article  twenty-two  of  the  civil
practice  law  and rules and section one hundred forty of the correction
law, objecting to routine medical, dental or mental health services  and
treatment  being  provided  to  such  incarcerated  individual under the
provisions of paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
(e) Nothing in this section shall require  that  consent  be  obtained
from  the  parent  or  legal  guardian, where no consent is necessary or
where the defendant is authorized by law to consent on his  or  her  own
behalf to any medical, dental, and mental health service or treatment.
* NB Effective until September 1, 2025
* 1.  (a)  Indeterminate  sentence.  Except as provided in subdivision
four of this section, when an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment  is
imposed,  the  court  shall  commit  the defendant to the custody of the
state department of corrections and community supervision for  the  term
of his or her sentence and until released in accordance with the law.
(b)  The court in committing a defendant who is not yet eighteen years
of age to the department of corrections and community supervision  shall
inquire as to whether the parents or legal guardian of the defendant, if
present,  will  grant  to  the  minor the capacity to consent to routine
medical, dental and mental health services and treatment.
(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (b) of this subdivision, where the court
commits a defendant who is not yet eighteen years of age to the  custody
of the department of corrections and community supervision in accordance
with this section and no medical consent has been obtained prior to said
commitment,  the  commitment order shall be deemed to grant the capacity
to consent to routine medical, dental and  mental  health  services  and
treatment to the person so committed.
(d)  Nothing  in  this  subdivision  shall  preclude a parent or legal
guardian of an incarcerated individual who is not yet eighteen years  of
age  from making a motion on notice to the department of corrections and
community supervision  pursuant  to  article  twenty-two  of  the  civil
practice  law  and rules and section one hundred forty of the correction

law, objecting to routine medical, dental or mental health services  and
treatment  being  provided  to  such  incarcerated  individual under the
provisions of paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
(e)  Nothing  in  this  section shall require that consent be obtained
from the parent or legal guardian, where  no  consent  is  necessary  or
where  the  defendant  is authorized by law to consent on his or her own
behalf to any medical, dental, and mental health service or treatment.
* NB Effective September 1, 2025
2. Definite sentence. Except as provided in subdivision four  of  this
section,  when a definite sentence of imprisonment is imposed, the court
shall commit the  defendant  to  the  county  or  regional  correctional
institution  for  the  term  of  his  sentence  and  until  released  in
accordance with the law.
2-a. Sentence of life imprisonment without parole. When a sentence  of
life  imprisonment without parole is imposed, the court shall commit the
defendant to the custody of the  state  department  of  corrections  and
community supervision for the remainder of the life of the defendant.
* 3. Undischarged imprisonment in other jurisdiction. When a defendant
who  is  subject  to  an undischarged term of imprisonment, imposed at a
previous time by a court of another jurisdiction,  is  sentenced  to  an
additional term or terms of imprisonment by a court of this state to run
concurrently  with  such  undischarged  term, as provided in subdivision
four of section 70.25, the return of the defendant to the custody of the
appropriate official  of  the  other  jurisdiction  shall  be  deemed  a
commitment for such portion of the term or terms of the sentence imposed
by  the  court  of  this state as shall not exceed the said undischarged
term. The defendant shall be committed  to  the  custody  of  the  state
department  of  corrections  and community supervision if the additional
term or terms are indeterminate or determinate  or  to  the  appropriate
county  or  regional  correctional institution if the said term or terms
are definite for such portion of the  term  or  terms  of  the  sentence
imposed  as  shall  exceed  such  undischarged term or until released in
accordance with law. If such additional term or terms imposed shall  run
consecutively  to  the  said  undischarged  term, the defendant shall be
committed as provided in subdivisions one and two of this section.
* NB Effective until September 1, 2025
* 3. Undischarged imprisonment in other jurisdiction. When a defendant
who is subject to an undischarged term of  imprisonment,  imposed  at  a
previous  time  by  a  court of another jurisdiction, is sentenced to an
additional term or terms of imprisonment by a court of this state to run
concurrently with such undischarged term,  as  provided  in  subdivision
four of section 70.25, the return of the defendant to the custody of the
appropriate  official  of  the  other  jurisdiction  shall  be  deemed a
commitment for such portion of the term or terms of the sentence imposed
by the court of this state as shall not  exceed  the  said  undischarged
term.  The  defendant  shall  be  committed  to the custody of the state
department of corrections and community supervision  if  the  additional
term or terms are indeterminate or to the appropriate county or regional
correctional institution if the said term or terms are definite for such
portion  of  the  term  or terms of the sentence imposed as shall exceed
such undischarged term or until released in accordance with law. If such
additional term or terms imposed shall run  consecutively  to  the  said
undischarged  term,  the  defendant  shall  be  committed as provided in
subdivisions one and two of this section.
* NB Effective September 1, 2025
4. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the  contrary,  a
juvenile  offender,  adolescent  offender,  or  a  juvenile  offender or
adolescent offender who is adjudicated a youthful offender, who is given

an indeterminate, determinate or a definite sentence, and who  is  under
the  age  of twenty-one at the time of sentencing, shall be committed to
the custody of the commissioner of the office  of  children  and  family
services  who  shall  arrange  for  the  confinement of such offender in
secure facilities of the office;  provided,  however  if  an  adolescent
offender  who  committed  a  crime  on  or  after  the youth's sixteenth
birthday receives a definite sentence not exceeding one year, the  judge
may  order  that  the  adolescent  offender  serve  such  sentence  in a
specialized secure juvenile detention facility for older youth certified
by the office of children and family services in  conjunction  with  the
state  commission  of  correction  and  operated pursuant to section two
hundred eighteen-a of the county law. The release or  transfer  of  such
juvenile  offenders  or adolescent offenders from the office of children
and family services shall be governed by section five hundred  eight  of
the executive law.
(a-2)  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law to the contrary, a
person sixteen years of age  who  commits  a  vehicle  and  traffic  law
offense  that  does  not constitute an adolescent offender offense on or
after October first, two thousand eighteen and a person seventeen  years
of  age  who  commits  such  an  offense  on or after October first, two
thousand nineteen who is sentenced to a  term  of  imprisonment  who  is
under  the age of twenty-one at the time he or she is sentenced shall be
committed to a specialized secure detention  facility  for  older  youth
certified  by  the office of children and family services in conjunction
with the state commission of correction.
(b) The court in committing a juvenile offender and youthful  offender
to  the  custody  of  the  office  of children and family services shall
inquire as to whether the parents or legal guardian  of  the  youth,  if
present,  will consent for the office of children and family services to
provide  routine  medical,  dental  and  mental  health   services   and
treatment.
(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (b) of this subdivision, where the court
commits  an offender to the custody of the office of children and family
services in accordance with this section and no medical consent has been
obtained prior to said commitment, the commitment order shall be  deemed
to  grant  consent  for  the  office  of children and family services to
provide for routine medical,  dental  and  mental  health  services  and
treatment to the offender so committed.
(d)  Nothing  in  this  subdivision  shall  preclude a parent or legal
guardian of an offender who is not yet eighteen years of age from making
a motion on notice  to  the  office  of  children  and  family  services
pursuant  to  article  twenty-two  of  the  civil practice law and rules
objecting to routine medical,  dental  or  mental  health  services  and
treatment  being  provided  to  such  offender  under  the provisions of
paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
(e) Nothing in this section shall require  that  consent  be  obtained
from  the  parent  or  legal  guardian, where no consent is necessary or
where the offender is authorized by law to consent on  his  or  her  own
behalf to any medical, dental and mental health service or treatment.
5.  Subject  to  regulations  of  the  department  of  health, routine
medical, dental and mental health services and treatment is defined  for
the purposes of this section to mean any routine diagnosis or treatment,
including  without  limitation  the  administration  of  medications  or
nutrition, the extraction of bodily fluids for analysis, and dental care
performed with a local anesthetic. Routine mental health treatment shall
not include psychiatric administration of medication unless it  is  part
of an ongoing mental health plan or unless it is otherwise authorized by
law.