BILL NUMBER: S316
SPONSOR: SALAZAR
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the correction law, in relation to enacting the "Dignity
Not Detention Act"
 
PURPOSE:
To end the use of New York State or local facilities for detaining immi-
grants on behalf of the federal government.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one is the title of the bill.
Section two amends Article 1 Section 2 of correction law to include two
new subdivisions defining the terms "immigration detention facility" and
"immigration detention contract."
Section three adds a new article 29 to the correction law. This article
prohibits governmental entities from entering into or renewing an immi-
gration detention contract or receiving any payments related to immi-
gration detention. This article also prompts any governmental entities
with existing immigration detention contracts to exercise the termi-
nation provision in the contract no later than ninety days after this
law takes effect.
Section four contains a severability clause.
Section five is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Immigration detention is dangerous, undermines public safety, and is a
threat to New Yorkers all over the state. Immigration detention harms
not only the individuals detained but also their loved ones from whom
they are separated and their communities.
Many individuals detained by ICE are productive and valuable members of
their communities, have families that include U.S. citizens, and many
are, themselves, lawfully in this country. Many have valid pending
claims for asylum.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the public health threats that
detention centers pose to detained individuals, their loved ones, and
the health of all New Yorkers. New York's contracts to profit from the
detention of immigrants fuel a larger deportation machine in which
people are separated from their loved ones and forced into cages.
ICE detention is inhumane and puts people's lives in danger. Many indi-
viduals in ICE detention have neither been accused of nor convicted of
criminal offenses. People in ICE custody endure horrific conditions
including outbreaks of COVID-19, sexual abuse, denial of health care,
harassment by guards, and unsanitary conditions.
In view of the announced and anticipated massive federal increase in
efforts to detain and deport immigrants in 2025, New York must take
steps to protect New Yorkers from such treatment. New York is the proud
home of immigrants and immigrant families from every country in the
world. This diversity makes our communities strong. We must concretely
demonstrate New York's commitment to protecting the rights of immigrants
and immigrant families.
Reducing bedspace and limiting detention capacity as would be accom-
plished by the enactment of this bill--results in less enforcement and
detention. The 2022 report by the Detention Watch Network Report and the
Immigrant Legal Resource Center, "If You Build It, ICE Will Fill It: The
Link Between Detention Capacity and ICE Arrests", established that immi-
grants in counties with detention space and counties with an overall
higher carceral capacity are significantly more likely to be arrested
and detained by ICE. One of their key findings was that closing
detention facilities is a crucial shift to protecting immigrant communi-
ties by reducing enforcement, detention, and deportation. (1)
The Orange County Correctional Facility ("OCCF"), which incarcerates
most of the ICE detainees from New York City and has the largest, popu-
lation of people in ICE custody in New York outside of the Federal
detention center in Batavia, has been the subject of numerous
Complaints, including in 2022 (2) and 2023 (3), City Council hearings,
and investigations in response to ongoing outcry against the rampant
abuses inside the facility.
Immigrant detainees incarcerated at OCCF initiated a hunger strike on
February 16, 2022, to protest conditions. Those who went on hunger
strike reported retaliation, including solitary confinement, confis-
cation of tablets, and restricted access to commissary. On February 28,
2022, The New York City Council Immigration Committee held an oversight
hearing on COVID-19 in Immigration Detention, with a particular focus on
the harms at Orange County Correctional Facility. During the hearing,
people who were formerly or currently detained at the facility shared
stories of the abuse and harassment they suffer at the hands of guards,
the low quality of food, and lack of access to medical and mental health
care, and compromised access to counsel. Although Ehe reports on OCCF
are the worst in the State, there have been reports of other facilities
that detain immigrant New Yorkers that have caused harm through gross
negligence. Complaints have also been filed against Rensselaer County
Jail in response to egregious living conditions and medical negligence.
After their oversight hearing, the NYC Council adopted a resolution, Res
0066-2022, on March 10, 2022, calling on the NYS Legislature to pass and
the Governor to sign the Dignity Not Detenti on bill.
In the furtherance of justice, public interest, and the safeguarding of
humane treatment for all individuals in New York, and in accordance with
the State legislature's authority over its counties and municipalities,
this legislation seeks to end current immigration detention contracts
and to indefinitely prohibit new contracts of the same.
It is already illegal in New York state for private enterprises to
profit from incarcerating people. New York passed this law because it
was widely recognized that it was neither a humane practice nor in the
public interest. And yet, the indirect profiteering from the same activ-
ity is still permitted in New York. It is the intent of the Legislature
that this bill declare that the state does not tolerate profiting from
the incarceration of people held in immigration detention. State and
local governments have no obligation to participate in immigration
enforcement as the enforcement of civil immigration laws is the exclu-
sive responsibility of the federal government.
The New York Criminal Procedure Law provides no authority for police
officers and peace officers in New York to make arrests for civil immi-
grations violations absent a judicial warrant. This legislation adds to
these existing restrictions by prohibiting governmental entities from
entering, renewing, or continuing immigration detention contracts.
This bill is supported, among other organizations, by the the NYC City
Council, the Committee on Immigration Representation of the NYS Bar
Association, the NY Civil Liberties Union, the NY Immigration Coalition,
and the Bronx Defenders.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
SENATE:
2023-2024: S306 (Salazar) - Referred to Crime Victims, Crime &
Correction
2022: S7373 (Salazar) - Referred to Crime Victims, Crime & Correction
2021: 57373 (Salazar) - Referred to Rules
ASSEMBLY:
2023-2024: A4354 (Reyes) - Referred to Correction
2021-2022: A7099A (Reyes) - Referred to Correction
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
1. https://www.ilrc.org/resources/if-you-build-it-ice-will-fill-it-
linkbetw een-detention-capacity-and-ice-arrests
2. https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files
/OCCF%20MultiOrganization%20DHS%2OCRCL%20Complaint%20and%20Index_2%2017%2
02022.pdf
3.
https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/2023.March_.21.%20CRCL%20Comp
laint9620re%200CCF.pdf

Statutes affected:
S316: 2 correction law