259-A - Division of parole; functions, powers and duties.
§ 259-a. Division of parole; functions, powers and duties. Subject to the authority of the chairman: 1. The division shall cause to be obtained and filed as soon as practicable, information as complete as may be obtainable with regard to each inmate who is received in an institution under the jurisdiction of the state department of correctional services. Such information shall include a complete statement of the crime for which the inmate has been sentenced, the circumstances of such crime, all presentence memoranda, the nature of the sentence, any orders of protection or temporary orders of protection issued against the inmate at the time of sentencing, the court in which he was sentenced, the name of the judge and district attorney and copies of such probation reports as may have been made as well as reports as to the inmate's social, physical, mental and psychiatric condition and history. 2. The division shall cause complete records to be kept of every person on presumptive release, parole, conditional release or post-release supervision. Such records shall contain the aliases and photograph of each such person, and the other information referred to in subdivision one of this section, as well as all reports of parole officers in relation to such persons. Such records shall be maintained by the division and may be made available as deemed appropriate by the chairman for use by the department of correctional services, the commissioner of mental health, the commissioner of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, the case review panel, and the attorney general pursuant to section 10.05 of the mental hygiene law, the division, and the board of parole. Such records shall be organized in accordance with methods of filing and indexing designed to insure the immediate availability of complete information about such persons. 3. The division shall have responsibility for the preparation of reports and other data required by the state board of parole in the exercise of its functions. 4. In accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the division shall supervise inmates released on parole or conditional release, or to post-release supervision, except that the division may consent to the supervision of a released inmate by the United States parole commission pursuant to the witness security act of nineteen hundred eighty-four. 4-a. To facilitate the supervision of all inmates released on parole or conditional release, or to post-release supervision, the chairman of the state board of parole shall consider the implementation of a program of graduated sanctions, including but not limited to the utilization of a risk and needs assessment instrument that would be administered to all inmates eligible for parole supervision. Such a program would include various components including approaches that concentrate supervision on new releases, alternatives to incarceration for technical parole violators and the use of enhanced technologies. 5. The division shall conduct such investigations as may be necessary in connection with alleged violations of presumptive release, parole, conditional release or post-release supervision. 6. The division shall assist inmates eligible for presumptive release, parole or conditional release, inmates released to post-release supervision and inmates who are on presumptive release, parole, conditional release or post-release supervision to secure employment, educational or vocational training, and housing. 6-a. The division shall have the duty to provide written notice to persons who are serving a term of parole, parole supervision, conditional release or post release supervision of any requirement to report to the office of victim services any funds of a convicted person as defined in section six hundred thirty-two-a of this chapter, theprocedure for such reporting and any potential penalty for a failure to comply. 7. The division shall encourage apprenticeship training of such persons through the assistance and cooperation of industrial, commercial and labor organizations. 8. The division may establish a parole transition program which is hereby defined as community-based residential facilities designed to aid presumptive release, parole, conditional release or post-release supervision violators develop an increased capacity for adjustment to community living. Presumptive releasees, parolees, conditional releasees and those under post-release supervision who have either (i) been found pursuant to section two hundred fifty-nine-i of this article to have violated one or more conditions of release in an important respect, or (ii) who have allegedly violated one or more of such conditions upon a finding of probable cause at a preliminary hearing or upon the waiver thereof may be placed in a parole transition facility. Placement in a parole transition facility upon a finding of probable cause or the waiver thereof shall not preclude the conduct of a revocation hearing, nor, absent a waiver, operate to deny the releasee's right to such revocation hearing. * 9. (a) The division shall collect a fee of thirty dollars per month, from all persons over the age of eighteen who after the effective date of this subdivision are supervised on presumptive release, parole, conditional release or post-release supervision by the division. The division shall waive all or part of such fee where, because of the indigence of the offender, the payment of said fee would work an unreasonable hardship on the person convicted, his or her immediate family, or any other person who is dependent on such person for financial support. (b) The supervision fee authorized by this subdivision shall not constitute nor be imposed as a condition of parole supervision. (c) In the event of non-payment of any fees which have not been waived by the division, the division may seek to enforce payment in any manner permitted by law for enforcement of a debt owed to the state. (d) Nothing contained in this subdivision affects or limits the provisions of section two hundred fifty-nine-m of this article, relating to out-of-state parole supervision. Prior to a transfer of parole supervision to another state, the division shall eliminate any supervision fee imposed pursuant to this subdivision. The division may collect a fee, pursuant to this subdivision and regulations promulgated thereunder, from any person whose parole supervision is transferred to this state from another. (e) The chairman of the division shall submit a report to the governor, temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly and the chairpersons of the senate crime and correction committee and assembly corrections committee, senate codes committee and the assembly codes committee on or before January first, nineteen hundred ninety-three and January first, nineteen hundred ninety-four regarding the division's experience with the parole supervision fee. The report shall include, but not be limited to, amounts of fees imposed and collected, rates of payment for different categories of convictions and types of offenders, and remedies utilized and costs incurred for collection in cases of non-payment. * NB Expires September 1, 2011 9-a. The division shall supervise all persons who are subject to a regimen of strict and intensive supervision and treatment pursuant to article ten of the mental hygiene law. The board of parole shall issue and periodically update rules and regulations concerning the supervisionof such persons in consultation with the office of sex offender management in the division of criminal justice services. 10. The division shall perform such other functions as are necessary and proper in furtherance of the objective of maintaining an effective, efficient and fair parole system.