BILL NUMBER:S6855

TITLE OF BILL:
An  act  to  amend  the  correction law, in relation to establishing the
pilot project for the placement of inmates close to home; and  providing
for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof

PURPOSE:
To  conduct a pilot program placing certain inmates in facilities closer
to the communities where their children reside

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill is the legislative intent.

Section two of the bill is the name of  this  act  which  shall  be  the
"pilot Project for Placement of Inmates Close to Home".

Section  three  of this bill establishes the pilot program in a facility
of the Department of  Corrections'  choosing  which  will  house  inmate
volunteers whose minor children reside close to the facility in order to
facilitate  visitation  between  the inmate parent and his or her child.
The Office of Children and Family Services  and/or  the  local  district
social  services  offices will be consulted as to the appropriateness of
visitation before any inmate is admitted to  the  program.  Further,  an
independent,  academic  analysis is required to determine the effective-
ness of this pilot and make recommendations, if any, for  expansion  and
              

improvement.

Section four is the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
Approximately  59%  of  all  New  York state prison and jail inmates are
parents. For women under custody in New York the  number  is  closer  to
71%.  More  than  80,000  minor children in New York State have a parent
incarcerated in a state prison. Transportation provides a major  barrier
to visitation.

Inmates are often placed in prisons far from their children and far from
home.  Male  inmates at Lakeview Correctional Facility who come from New
York City are more than 400 miles from home,  while  female  inmates  at
Albion  are around 375 miles from New York City. Distances are large and
public transportation is difficult, especially with the  termination  of
the  longstanding  DOCS  free  bus  program  that provided visitors with
transportation to remote prisons from sites around the state.

For children in foster care, distance  is  the  number  one  barrier  to
legally  mandated visits with their incarcerated parents. Social service
agencies are required to  maintain  contact  with  incarcerated  parents
(except  in  cases where a court has ruled otherwise) including bringing
children for visits with parents in prison. When the goal is  reunifica-
tion  the  requirement  to provide visits extends to the tri-state area.

Non-compliance is routine in large part because of the  distance.  Given
the  caseloads  and demands on child welfare workers, it is difficult to
take a whole day or two for one parent-child visit. As a  result,  chil-
dren  in  foster care with incarcerated parents suffer greatly from lack
of parental contact. Without visits, an incarcerated parent is at  great
risk  for termination of his or her parental rights, the permanent legal
severing of the parent-child relationship.

Recent studies have emphasized the importance of visits and family  ties
in  the  prevention  of  recidivism.  One study found that every visit a
prisoner received measurably and increasingly lowered the likelihood  of
recidivism. Visits by relatives, including children, seem to matter most
when  it  comes  to  reducing  recidivism, creating a significant public
safety benefit to supporting the maintenance of parent-child  and  other
ties during incarceration.

Children  who  have  parents in prison are significantly affected by the
frequency and quality of contact with their  parents.  While  there  are
instances  when  visits  are  not  in children's best interest, for most
children visits are beneficial  to  their  psychological  and  emotional
well-being,  their  physical health and development, and can help smooth
the reentry process and family reunification. Children  of  incarcerated
parents  are recognized as an at-risk population and parental incarcera-
tion is now included as an ACE factor,  as  "Adverse  Childhood  Experi-
ence,"  that can negatively affect children's development. The risks for
children associated with having an incarcerated parent  can  be  signif-
icantly  mitigated  by  the  continuing  presence  of  the parent in the
child's life, through visitation, telephone contact,  and  letters.  The
number  one way to promote visiting is by reducing the distances between
the incarcerated parent and their children.

While the Department of Corrections and Community  Supervision  normally
places  inmates in prisons based on classification by security level and
programmatic needs, this pilot program will explore the use of  a  third
criterion,  proximity to an inmate's minor children. The purpose of this
act is to establish a pilot program to assess  the  effects  of  housing
inmates  who  are  parents  of  minor children close to home in order to
facilitate visitation between  such  parents  and  their  children.  The
department  will  select 60 inmate volunteers to be housed in a facility
closest to the communities where their children reside where such facil-
ity is an otherwise appropriate placement for them.

The department will be required to report to  the  legislature  and  the
governor  on the effectiveness of the pilot program and make recommenda-
tions for expansion to other correctional facilities in order  to  place
more  inmates  close  to  their  families and minor children. Should the
pilot program prove beneficial, the expectation is that the program will
be broadened to allow more inmates to be housed in  close  proximity  to
their  home  communities, thus facilitating visitation and contacts with
their children and other family members.

This bill also calls for an independent, academic analysis of the effect
of the pilot program prepared in consultation with the department.  Such
analysis  will  report  on  the  impact,  if  any, the placement of such
inmates closest to the communities where their children reside  has  had
on  the inmates themselves, the safety and security of the facility, the
foster care case and local social service agency,  if  applicable,  and,
where  possible,  on the family members and children involved as well as
any other effect of the program that can be measured. The  report  shall
include recommendations as to the future of the program and what modifi-
cations  would  be  recommended  in  order to improve implementation and
outcomes.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect six months after it shall have become law.