10.10 Treatment and confinement.(a) If the respondent is found to be a dangerous sex offender requiring confinement and committed to a secure treatment facility, that facility shall provide care, treatment, and control of the respondent until such time that a court discharges the respondent in accordance with the provisions of this article.
(b) The commissioner shall, for persons committed pursuant to this article, develop and implement a treatment plan in accordance with the provisions of section 29.13 of this chapter. The commissioner shall give due regard to any relevant standards, guidelines, and best practices recommended by the office of sex offender management.
(c) The commissioner, or the commissioner of the department of corrections and community supervision, or other government entity responsible for the care and custody of respondents, shall be authorized to employ appropriate safety and security measures, as he or she deems necessary to ensure the safety of the public, during court proceedings and in the transport of persons committed or undergoing any proceedings under this article. Such commissioner shall provide training in the use of safe and appropriate security interventions to employees responsible for transporting persons under this article.
(d) The commissioner shall have the discretion to enter into agreements with the department of corrections and community supervision for the provision of security services relating to this article.
(e) Persons in the custody of the commissioner pursuant to this article shall be kept separate from other persons in the care, custody and control of the commissioner, and shall be segregated from such other persons, provided, however, that persons committed or subject to proceedings under this article need not be segregated from other sex offenders committed or subject to proceedings under this article, article nine of this title, or section four hundred two of the correction law. If any dangerous sex offenders requiring confinement are committed to a secure treatment facility located on the grounds of a correctional facility, they shall be kept separate from persons in custody as a result of criminal cases, and shall be segregated from such persons. Occasional instances of supervised, incidental contact between persons required by this subdivision to be segregated shall not be considered a violation of such segregation requirements.
(f) In accordance with security procedures developed by the commissioner, a person committed under this article may be granted an escorted privilege by the director of the secure treatment facility in which he or she is receiving care and treatment but only for the purposes of allowing the person to receive medical or dental care or treatment not available at the facility, to visit a family member who is seriously ill or to attend the funeral of a family member. A person granted an escorted privilege shall be under the constant supervision of one or more facility employees who have been designated by the commissioner or other specially trained personnel approved by the commissioner to provide care and supervision of such persons.
(g) If a person is in the custody of the commissioner pursuant to an order issued under this article, and such person escapes from custody, notice of such escape shall be given as soon as the facility staff learns of such escape, and shall include such information as will adequately identify the escaped individual, any person or persons believed to be in danger, and the nature of the danger. Such notice shall be given by any means reasonably calculated to give prompt actual notice, and shall be given to:
(1) the district attorney of the county where the person was convicted, adjudicated, or charged; the attorney general; and counsel for respondent or the mental hygiene legal service;
(2) the superintendent of the state police;
(3) the sheriff of the county where the escape occurred;
(4) the police department having jurisdiction of the area where the escape occurred;
(5) any victim or victims who submitted the notification form described in subdivision four of section 380.50 of the criminal procedure law;
(6) any person the facility staff reasonably believes could be in danger;
(7) any law enforcement agency and any person the facility staff believes would be able to apprise such victim or victims that the person escaped from the facility; and
(8) any other person the committing court may designate.
(h) The person may be apprehended, restrained, transported, and returned to the facility from which he or she escaped by any police officer or peace officer, and it shall be the duty of such officer to assist any representative of the commissioner to take the person into custody upon the request of such representative.
(i) The commissioner shall submit to the governor and the legislature no later than December first of each year, a report on the implementation of this article. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, the census of each existing treatment facility, the number of persons reviewed by the case review teams for proceedings under this article, the number of persons committed pursuant to this article, their crimes of conviction, and projected future capacity needs.
Last modified: February 3, 2019