BILL NUMBER: S4501B
SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the use of body
imaging scanning equipment in local correctional facilities
 
PURPOSE:
Would permit the non-medical use of low dosage ionizing radiation on
Incarcerated individuals, employees and visitors in local correctional
facilities.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends section 3502 of the public health law by adding a new
subdivision 6. Sets forth regulations.
Section 2: Amends section 3502 of the public health law. Section 3:
Sets effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Correctional facilities across the state are experiencing an epidemic of
slashings by incarcerated individuals who obtain ceramic craft blades as
contraband. The blades, which are widely sold to fit into small Exacto
knives or comparable cutting tools, are easily hidden on the body or in
clothing and are not found by metal detectors. They are small enough to
avoid detection during a pat frisk but large enough to inflict consider-
able damage on other incarcerated. NYC DOC has been unable to stop the
slashings, in part because it does not have any reliable way to find the
blades short of full body cavity strip searches, an invasive and time-
consuming method that is not practical or desirable on a daily or
routine basis.
The NYC Department of Correction obtained five used TSA ionizing radi-
ation body scanners, formerly employed in major airports around the
country, to scan incarcerated individuals for contraband. The TSA
stopped using them in most large airports because of passenger privacy
concerns and switched to a different kind of non-ionizing scanner that
can only detect larger objects, like guns and bomb-making equipment, but
that cannot detect small items like the ceramic blades. The ionizing
body scanners were effective in finding contraband hidden in incarcerat-
ed individuals' bodies or in their clothing, including ceramic blades.
Several other county jails in the state also purchased ionizing body
scanners from the TSA. The NYC Board of Correction, which currently
includes two medical doctors known for their advocacy of prisoner
rights, strongly supports the use of the body scanners to ensure the
safety of staff and incarcerated individuals.
Besides ceramic blades, the body scanners can detect weapons made of
titanium and plastic which cannot be easily found in pat frisks and are
undetectable by magnometers. During the period when the body scanners
were in operation, the use of the scanners appeared to act as a deter-
rent, discouraging incarcerated individuals from carrying weapons of any
kind.
In 2014, the State Commission of Correction halted the use of ionizing
radiation body scanners in jails because State public health law only
permits exposure to such radiation for medical purposes by licensed
radiation technicians. In order to resume the use of the body scanners
in correctional settings, a change of public health law was needed.
There is a small risk of cancer from exposure to ionizing radiation.
The scanners are banned in the EU because of the associated cancer risk.
The TSA and industry groups maintain that the scanners are safe, emit-
ting less radiation than is experienced in approximately 10 minutes of
commercial air flight. However, because any radiation exposure is poten-
tially dangerous, this bill includes oversight of correctional usage of
body scanners by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene or, for
counties outside of New York City, the State Department of Health to
make sure that individual adult incarcerated individual exposure is
minimal, that adolescents cents are only exposed to radiation under
exceptional circumstances and that pregnant women are excluded from
scanning.
Exposure to additional ionizing radiation should be taken seriously
given the high rates of cancer experienced in this country. However, in
light of the endemic violence at correctional facilities across NYS and
the increasing use of ceramic blades as weapons among the incarcerated
individual population, it is important to safeguard staff and incarcer-
ated individuals from the immediate and widespread threat of slashing,
as opposed to a remote and unlikely threat of cancer caused by such body
scanners, particularly since jail incarcerated individuals are only in
the correctional setting for relatively short periods of time and there-
fore should not be subject to long term radiation exposure.
The 2023-24 FY year state budget enacted the authorization of thse body
scanners in state correctional facilities. This bill will allow the
scanners to also be used in local correctional facilities, where they
are just as needed.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Senate
2022: S9611, Referred to Rules
Assembly
2022: A10465, Referred to Correction
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided however, that the
amendments to subdivision 6 of section 3502 of the public health law
made by sections one and two of this act shall not affect the repeal of
such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith. Effective imme-
diately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.

Statutes affected:
S4501: 3502 public health law