Let Inmates Stay Near Family

Section two of the bill is the legislative intent.

Section three of this bill establishes the pilot program in a facility of the Department of Corrections' choosing which will house inmate volunteers whose minor children reside close to the facility in order to facilitate visitation between the inmate parent and his or her child.

The Office of Children and Family Services and/or the local district social services offices will be consulted as to the appropriateness of visitation before any inmate is admitted to the program. Further, a comprehensive analysis is required to determine the effectiveness of this pilot and make recommendations, if any, for expansion and improve- ment.

Section four is the effective date.

Justification

Approximately 59% of all New York state prison and jail inmates are parents. For women under custody in New York the number is closer to 71%. More than 80,000 minor children in New York State have a parent incarcerated in a state prison. Transportation provides a major barrier to visitation.

Inmates are often placed in prisons far from their children and far from home. Male inmates at Lakeview Correctional Facility who come from New York City are more than 400 miles from home, while female inmates at Albion are around 375 miles from New York City. Distances are large and public transportation is difficult, especially with the termination of the longstanding DOGS free bus program that provided visitors with transportation to remote prisons from sites around the state.

For children in foster care, distance is the number one barrier to legally mandated visits with their incarcerated parents. Social service agencies are required to maintain contact with incarcerated parents(except in cases where a court has ruled otherwise) including bringing children for visits with parents in prison. When the goal is reunification the requirement to provide visits extends to the tri-state area. Non-compliance is routine in large part because of the distance.

Given the caseloads and demands on child welfare workers, it is diffi- cult to take a whole day or two for one parent-child visit. As a result, children in foster care with incarcerated parents suffer greatly from lack of parental contact. Without visits, an incarcerated parent is at great risk for termination of his or her parental rights, the permanent legal severing of the parent-child relationship. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of visits and family ties in the prevention of recidivism. One study found that every visit a prisoner received measur- ably and increasingly lowered the likelihood of recidivism. Visits by relatives, including children, seem to matter most when it comes to reducing recidivism, creating a significant public safety benefit to supporting the maintenance of parent-child and other ties during incar- ceration.

Children who have parents in prison are significantly affected by the frequency and quality of contact with their parents.. While there are instances when visits are not in children's best interest, for most children visits are beneficial to their psychological and emotional well7being, their physical health and development, and can help smooth the reentry process and family reunification. Children of incarcerated parents are recognized as an at-risk population and parental incarcera- tion is now included as an ACE factor, as "Adverse Childhood Experi- ence," that can negatively affect children's development. The risks for children associated with having an incarcerated parent can be signif- icantly mitigated by the continuing presence of the parent in the child's life, through visitation, telephone contact, and letters. The number one way to promote visiting is by reducing the distances between the incarcerated parent and their children.

While the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision normally places inmates in prisons based on classification by security level and programmatic needs, this pilot program will explore the use of a third criterion, proximity to an inmate's minor children. The purpose of this act is to establish a pilot program to assess the effects of housing inmates who are parents of minor children close to home in order to facilitate visitation between such parents and their children. The department will select 60 inmate volunteers to be housed in a facility closest to the communities where their children reside where such facil- ity is an otherwise appropriate placement for them.

The department will be required to report to the legislature and the governor on the effectiveness of the pilot program and make recommenda- tions for expansion to other correctional facilities in order to place more inmates close to their families and minor children. Should the pilot program prove beneficial, the expectation is that the program will be broadened to allow more inmates to be housed in close proximity to their home communities, thus facilitating visitation and contacts with their children and other family members.

This bill also calls for an independent, academic analysis of the effect of the pilot program prepared in consultation. with the department. Such analysis will report on the impact, if any, the placement of such inmates closest to the communities where their children reside has had on the inmates themselves, the safety and security of the facility, the foster care case and local social service agency, if applicable, and, where possible, on the family members and children involved as well as any other effect of the program that can be measured. The report shall. include recommendations as to the future of the program and what modifi- cations would be recommended in order to improve implementation and outcomes.

Legislative history

2017-2018: S7757a

Fiscal implications

None.

Local fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect six months after it shall have become law.