BILL NUMBER: S3763 Revised 01/30/25
SPONSOR: SALAZAR
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the correction law, in relation to the rights of people
in prisons, jails, and forensic facilities
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill aims to accomplish two goals: (1) to clearly place the rights
of incarcerated people and their families in New York within the frame-
work and protections of international human rights law and norms, and
(2) to correct, clarify, and establish certain specific protections
relating to how incarcerated individuals and their families are treated
within New York's prisons, jails, and secure forensic facilities,
including relating to visitation, use of segregated confinement, due
process rights, packages, and other matters.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 states the name by which the bill shall be known, which is the
"Rights Behind Bars; Protecting the Rights of People in Prisons, Jails,
and Forensic Facilities, and Their Loved Ones, in New York State Act.".
Section 2 sets forth, in seven parts, the legislative findings and
intent:
PART A recognizes the systematic lack of human rights protections for
incarcerated individuals and their loved ones in New York, and the
necessity for the legislature to clarify rights that exist under New
York law but are not consistently followed, to close gaps in existing
law, and to enshrine into New York law well-established principles and
obligations under international human rights law.
PART B expresses that numerous studies, reports, and legal decisions
have documented systemic, widespread, and persistent human rights
violations in NY's correctional facilities and support the need for this
legislation.
PART C cites the December 2024 beating death of Robert Brooks in Marcy
Correctional Facility as an example of why this legislation is neces-
sary.
PART D cites numerous specific reports supporting the need for this
legislation, including reports issued by the NYS Inspector General, the
Marshall Project, the Rikers Federal Monitor, and the Correctional Asso-
ciation.
PART E cites relevant provisions of the New York and U.S. consti-
tutions, as well as key portions of international human rights law docu-
ments relating to the rights of incarcerated people, including the
United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant
of Civil and Political Rights, the Basic Principles for the Treatment of
Prisoners, the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the United Nations Standing Mini-
mum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules.)
PART F focuses on particular sections of the Mandela Rules which provide
guidance as to the treatment of people who are incarcerated, including,
Rule 3 (prohibiting, generally, actions which "aggravate the suffering
inherent" in cutting people off from the outside world and depriving
them of their liberty), Rule 4 (requiring that incarceration be used to
"ensure the reintegration of incarcerated persons into society upon
release"), Rule 5 (requiring carceral facilities to "minimize any
differences between prison life and life at liberty that tend to lesson
. . . the respect due to their dignity as human beings"), Rule 58.1
requiring that people be allowed regular communication with family and
friends, Rule 22 requiring the rights of people in prison to nutritious
and wholesome food, and Rule 82 prohibiting any use of force against an
incarcerated person that is not strictly necessary."
PART G notes specific areas which have arisen in recent years in New
York correctional facilities, including systemic violations of the HALT
Solitary Confinement Law, improper and unjustified restrictions on pack-
ages, visits, and mail, staff abuse and brutality, and other issues, and
states the intent of the legislation, namely, to clarify and enforce the
human rights of incarcerated individuals in New York.
Section 3 amends correction law section 2 by the addition of eleven
paragraphs which define the following terms: "contact visit", "visitor",
"cell", "cell confinement", "out-of-cell", "congregate recreation",
"core programs", "represented", "personal property", "secure facility",
and "incarcerated individual."
Section 4 amends correction law section 2 (23) through the addition of
three paragraphs: (a) allows cell confinement beyond seventeen hours per
day for medical or mental health treatment only with determination that
such confinement is medically necessary, (b) renders any such confine-
ment null if not medically necessary and if the environment is not as
least restrictive as appropriate, and (c) sets forth items and activ-
ities incarcerated to which persons in such medically necessary confine-
ment must have access.
Section 5 amends correction law section 2 (33) related to the phrase
"special populations" to make clear via examples what is already
required under settled law per the HALT Solitary Confinement Law that
people with diagnosable conditions, including all people on the mental
health caseload, or with any disability (including intellectual, mental
health, developmental, cognitive, physical, mobility, sensorial,
medical, traumatic brain injury, or an organic brain syndrome), or who
have such conditions within the previous year are protected. In addi-
tion, this section clarifies and extends the prohibition of imposing
segregated confinement on individuals who are pregnant or in the post-
partum recovery period or are caring for a child.
Section 6 amends correction law section 137 (3) by requiring incarcerat-
ed individuals be provided: weather appropriate clothing, sufficient
quality of a variety of fresh food to meet Department of Health guide-
lines, adequate mealtimes, and applicable wheelchair assistance.
Section 7 amends correction law section 137 (5) by barring any use of
force by staff against an incarcerated person except as a last resort
after exhausting de-escalation techniques and where no alternatives
exist to prevent imminent physical harm to another person, major proper-
ty damage that raises an imminent safety or security risk, or escape.
Even when authorized, staff shall only use the minimum amount of force
required. This section also specifically bans the use of steel batons,
prohibits retaliation, forbids staff from providing any false informa-
tion in any official report, and makes all staff mandatory reporters of
any observed misconduct by other staff.
Section 8 amends correction law section 137 (6) law by the addition of
seven paragraphs:
(p) outlines visitation rights; including allowance for four in-person
visitors every day for at least several hours per incarcerated individ-
ual, access to showers prior to a visit, and related visitor rights.
q) allows incarcerated individuals to receive packages in a timely
manner, by mail or visitors, and eliminates any requirement that pack-
ages be from or delivered by vendors.
(r) emphasizes HALT's requirement of out-of-cell time and group program-
ming by providing all incarcerated persons, apart from those in segre-
gated confinement, access to at least fourteen hours of out-of-cell time
per day, congregate programming and activities, and recreation.
(s) requires that any correspondence incarcerated individuals receive
must be delivered in its original form.
(t) gives all incarcerated individuals access to anything technological-
ly available, including use of personal tablets or devices, and free use
of functions within that device to increase general connections and
accessibility. This provision also requires that all personal phone
calls and e-mails be free.
(u) ensures commissaries are financially accessible and contain nutri-
tious options.
(v) permits incarcerated individuals to bring state court actions for
any violations of this section.
Section 9 amends correction law section 137 (6)(j)(ii) by adding two new
clauses: (A) clarifying that time spent in certain locations does not
constitute "out-of-cell" time, such as a "recreation area' contiguous to
a cell, and (B) requiring that if a person voluntarily chooses not to
participate in congregate out-of-cell time, they shall be offered access
to comparable individual programming, recreation, and individual time
away from their cells.
Section 10 amends correction law 137 (6)(j)(v) by requiring that indi-
viduals in residential rehabilitation units have access to the same
programs available to the general population.
Section 11 amends correction law section 137 (6)(j)(vii) prohibiting the
use of restraints when individuals are participating in out-of-cell
activities unless an individualized assessment is made at the time of or
immediately following an incident that the use of restraints are
required for the individual due to an imminent risk of serious physical
injury to self or others. The assessment must be memorialized in writ-
ing. A new subsection A requires the use of the least restrictive
restraint possible for no more than the necessary amount of time. A new
subsection B limits the use of restraints to the day applied unless a
determination based on concrete evidence finds the contrary necessary. A
new subsection C provides limits and regulations to continued use of
restraints.
Section 12 amends correction law section 137(6)(k) by the addition of
three new subparagraphs:
(v) sets specific limits to segregated confinement and residential reha-
bilitation unit times, regardless of the number of charges associated
with the incident at hand.
(vi) requires that any imposition of a disciplinary sanction must be
based on a finding of guilt of the charged act or acts by clear and
convincing evidence.
(vii) requires hearing officers to engage in a meaningful fact-finding
process, with detailed statements of evidence and reasons why the incar-
cerated individual's evidence or defense was credited or rejected.
Section 13 amends correction law section 137 (6)(1) by the addition of
five new subparagraphs:
(i) provides for notice of the rights to representation for persons
facing placement in segregated confinement or an RRU.
(ii) requires people incarcerated and their representation, if applica-
ble, to be provided all evidence relating to their charge and/or hearing
as quickly as possible and no later than forty-eight hours prior to said
hearing.
(iii) lists the rights incarcerated people and their representatives, if
applicable, have during hearings.
(iv) requires a recording of all disciplinary hearings, and for such to
be provided to the incarcerated person and their representative, if
applicable.
(v) allows for time spent in segregated confinement or a residential
rehabilitation unit preceding a hearing to be credited as either the
sanction imposed or as good time behavior allowance time, contingent on
the outcome.
Section 14 amends correction law section 137 (6)(o) by establishing the
information that must be included in published monthly reports from the
department. The amendment also outlines a detailed list of data and
factors which must be included in said reports.
Section 15 contains a severability clause.
Section 16 provides that the provisions of this act shall take effect
thirty days after becoming law.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This "Rights Behind Bars" bill was developed by the sponsors in close
collaboration with experts in the functioning of New York's jails and
prisons, including legal experts, formerly incarcerated individuals,
families of incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals, currently
incarcerated individuals, and advocacy organizations focused on the
rights of people behind bars in New York State. In addition, the Senate
sponsor, who is the Chair of the Standing Committee on Crime Victims,
Crime and Correction, has a significant amount of direct contact with
incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people and their families and
loved ones, based on numerous in-person visits to correctional facili-
ties throughout the State and, further, based on the high level of tele-
phone calls and letters the Senator's office receives from incarcerated
or formerly incarcerated individuals or their families.
All of this input led inescapably to two conclusions relating to the
rights of people behind bars: (1) there are numerous important issues
where the law of New York State is either not as clear as it could be or
is not being implemented properly, to the detriment of people who are
most directly impacted by incarceration, and (2) a more comprehensive
vision, framework, and approach is needed in this State to ensure that
the rights of people behind bars are protected.
This bill, therefore, addresses, clarifies, and corrects numerous
specific issues in New York - e.g., visitation rights, mail and package
access, programming, excessive and unjustified uses of force by staff,
misuse of segregated confinement, due process rights, food and meals,
and more. In addition, in order to provide the appropriate overall
framework for understanding and protecting the rights of people behind
bars in New York, this bill also places these rights within a comprehen-
sive framework established by international human rights law.
This bill is both pragmatic in addressing a number of specific issues
that frequently arise in New York's jails and prisons and is visionary
in emphasizing the human rights of those behind bars and recognizing
that New York is significantly out-of-compliance with accepted norms and
rules of international human rights law as applicable to people held in
Custody.
The urgent need for this bill was starkly illustrated by the brutal
beating and murder of Robert Brooks in Marcy Correctional Facility in
December 2024 in the facility infirmary by a large group of DOCCS staff
members, an incident which, unbeknown to any of the staff, was caught on
video. As visible in the video recordings, it appears none of the DOCCS
staff directly involved in inflicting physical harm to Mr. Brooks or
those staff members who were present at any time during the incident,
had any concern as to whether they might be held accountable for their
actions. Not one of the staff members intervened to protect Mr. Brooks,
and no one accurately reported what had occurred.
The enactment of this bill is essential.
All New Yorkers have a right to expect that people held in custody are
treated fairly, as human beings, and are not subjected to brutality,
racism, denials of rights, interferences with visits or other forms of
contact with the outside world, and are provided meaningful access to
the programs and educational resources needed in order to return to
their communities safely.
In addition, New Yorkers should be, and are, shocked by the huge amounts
of money the State is ordered to pay out in settlements and court
verdicts in cases relating, among other things, to brutality from
correctional staff. As this bill was initially being finalized for
filing in 2023, for example, word came of a $9.25 million verdict
against the New York prison system in a case of a man killed by the use
by correctional staff of unnecessary and excessive force in one of the
State's prisons. This court verdict is not unique, though it is large.
Regarding the provisions directly related to ensuring proper compliance
with the landmark HALT Solitary Confinement law enacted in 2021, this
bill provides clarification of the requirements of the HALT law. Specif-
ically, the HALT Solitary law categorically bans members of groups
defined as "special populations" from being placed in segregated
confinement. The existing law explicitly includes within the definition
of "special populations" the definition contained in Executive Law
section 292 (21)(a), which defines disability as "a physical, mental or
medical impairment resulting from anatomical, physiological, genetic or
neurological conditions which prevents the exercise of normal bodily
function or is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory
diagnostic techniques." Courts have broadly interpreted Executive Law §
292 (21)'s definition of disability to include conditions "which are
merely diagnosable medical anomalies which impair bodily integrity and
thus may lead to more serious conditions in the future" (Krause v Lancer
& Loader Group, LLC, 965 NYS2d 312, 399 n 5  
SUP CT, NEW YORK COUNTY
2013, quoting Davis v Bowes, 159 F3d 1346  
2D CIR 1998  
EXPLAINING
THAT THE NYS HUMAN RIGHTS LAW INCLUDES A MORE EXPANSIVE DEFINITION
OF DISABILITY THAN THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT BECAUSE IT DOES
NOT REQUIRE ANY SHOWING THAT THE DISABILITY SUBSTANTIALLY LIMITS ANY
MAJOR LIFE ACTIVITY. The NYS Human Rights Law definition of disability
reflects society's evolving understanding of disability and its incorpo-
ration into HALT reflects the legislature's intent to provide the broad-
est possible protection from the harms of solitary Confinement. Under
this definition, any person in DOCCS custody who is, for example, on the
OMH mental-health caseload, is low hearing or low vision, has any mobil-
ity disability, or medical condition impairing bodily integrity would be
deemed to be in the "special population" banned from segregated confine-
ment. In practice, DOCCS had not been complying with this requirement.
This has been noted by investigative reports in NYS Focus (Gelardi,
Chris, "Prisons Are Illegally Throwing People With Disabilities into
Solitary Confinement", 9/26/2022) and by the Correctional Association of
NY in their comprehensive report on HALT compliance published in March
2023.
The sponsors submit that if this bill were enacted, it would go a long
way towards improving conditions within New York's jails and prisons,
would result in significantly reduced violence, would make a huge
difference in the preparation of individuals for successful re-entry to
the community and would improve family ties and relationships. All this
would have an impact on enhancing the human rights and human dignity of
all. It would also result in significant cost savings for the State.
 
RACIAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
The long-standing racial disparities in New York's jails and prison
systems are well-documented. The significant over-representation of
people of color in New York's