Court Opinion

ID: 9779748
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 00:42:15.859776+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:39.570634
License: Public Domain

Ciparick, J. (dissenting).
Because I believe that a prisoner must be lawfully in custody in order to qualify as a “detained sex offender” as that term is defined in Mental Hygiene Law article 10, I dissent.
A civil management proceeding under article 10 of the Mental Hygiene Law is commenced when an “agency with jurisdiction” notifies the Attorney General and the Commissioner of the Office of Mental Health that a “detained sex offender” is nearing an anticipated release date (Mental Hygiene Law § 10.05 [b]). An “agency with jurisdiction” is an agency “which, during the period in question, would be the agency responsible for supervising or releasing” the “detained sex offender” (Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03 [a]). As relevant here, article 10, which became effective in April 2007, defines the term “detained sex offender” to mean:
“a person who is in the care, custody, control, or supervision of an agency with jurisdiction ... in that the person is . . .
“[a] person who stands convicted of a sex offense . . . and is currently serving a sentence for, or subject to supervision by the division of parole, whether on parole or on post-release supervision, for such offense or for a related offense; . . .
“[or a] person convicted of a sex offense who is, or was at any time after September first, two thousand five, a patient in a hospital operated by the office of mental health, and who was admitted directly to such facility pursuant to article nine of this title or section four hundred two of the correction law upon release or conditional release from a correctional facility, provided that the provisions of this article shall not be deemed to shorten or lengthen the time for which such person may be held pursuant to such article or section respectively” (Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03 [g] [1], [5]).
*137From these legislative pronouncements, the majority draws several conclusions with which I agree. First, I believe the majority correctly concludes that the Legislature limited the scope of article 10 to sex offenders who are actually and presently in the custody or care of the relevant agency with jurisdiction (see majority op at 135); I also agree that it is “often reasonable to read ‘custody’ as implying ‘lawful custody’ ” (id. at 133; see Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03 [g]). I part company with the majority, however, when it concludes that “[t]he legality of [a] prisoner’s] custody is irrelevant” (majority op at 134) in ascertaining whether he or she is a “detained sex offender.”
In State of N.Y. ex rel. Harkavy v Consilvio (7 NY3d 607 [2006] [Harkavy I]), we determined that the proper procedure for involuntary commitment of an inmate was Correction Law § 402 rather than article 9 of the Mental Hygiene Law (see id. at 614). We recognized in State of N.Y. ex rel. Harkavy v Consilvio (8 NY3d 645 [2007] [Harkavy II]), decided after the legislative enactment of article 10 of the Mental Hygiene Law, that persons similarly situated to the Harkavy I petitioners—sex offenders improperly transferred to Office of Mental Health facilities directly from Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) facilities pursuant to article 9—had been specifically designated for inclusion within the new article 10, thus making that new procedure the proper vehicle to involuntarily commit a sex offender nearing the end of his or her prison sentence (see id. at 652). We did not contemplate, at that time, whether the DOCS detention was or could be illegal.
The following year, we concluded in People v Sparber (10 NY3d 457, 469-470 [2008]) and Matter of Garner v New York State Dept. of Correctional Servs. (10 NY3d 358, 362 [2008]) that a term of postrelease supervision must be judicially pronounced in order to be valid and that it could not be administratively imposed by DOCS. Moreover, recently, we reaffirmed the concept that “the administrative imposition by DOCS of any additional penalty other than that issued by the sentencing court is a nullity” (People v Williams, 14 NY3d 198, 218 [2010], citing Garner, 10 NY3d at 362; see also Earley v Murray, 451 F3d 71, 76 [2d Cir 2006], reh denied 462 F3d 147 [2006], cert denied sub nom. Burhlre v Earley, 551 US 1159 [2007]).
In both of the cases presently before us, DOCS impermissibly imposed PRS. Accordingly, Joseph II. and Humberto G. were in DOCS custody for violating unlawfully imposed PRS conditions at the time the Attorney General commenced
*138article 10 proceedings against them.* Yet the majority concludes that the status of the incarceration of both is unimportant. I disagree. An invalid term of PRS and a subsequent violation should not be permitted to serve as the basis for further proceedings under article 10, especially because such proceedings may result in a significant curtailment of liberty (see generally Kansas v Hendricks, 521 US 346, 356-357 [1997] [recognizing liberty interest in remaining free from restraint, but upholding a state sex offender civil commitment statute because it complied with due process requirements]).
The majority’s argument to the contrary is not convincing. The majority explains that, in Harkavy I, we recognized a legislative distinction between imprisoned persons and non-imprisoned persons; it also concludes that “the Legislature intended to draw a similar line between prisoners and non-prisoners when it enacted article 10” (majority op at 134). While that conclusion is accurate, it is irrelevant. Joseph II. and Humberto G.’s administratively imposed PRS terms are a nullity and, thus, their incarceration as a result of a “violation” of an unlawfully imposed term of PRS was likewise illegal. In short, these two prisoners are unlawfully in DOCS custody and thus DOCS may not be considered “an agency with jurisdiction” as contemplated by article 10.
That the majority views the legality of the custody “irrelevant” is troubling; such a result encourages and rewards DOCS errors. For instance, if a DOCS inmate “slips through the cracks” or DOCS “miscalculates” a sentence to extend beyond the actually-imposed sentence, that illegal detention and custody could, under the majority’s rationale, serve as the basis for an article 10 proceeding. That result would be untenable. Accordingly, I would hold that neither prisoner qualifies as a “detained sex offender” and, in both cases, would affirm the orders of the Appellate Division.
Judges Graffeo, Read and Pigott concur with Judge Smith; Judge Cipabick dissents and votes to affirm in a separate opinion in which Chief Judge Lippman and Judge Jones concur.
In each case: Order reversed, etc.

 As the majority notes, in both cases, the District Attorney declined to seek resentencing pursuant to Correction Law § 601-d to include a term of PRS.