Prohibits corrections employees from participating in degrading behavior towards incarcerated persons or fellow employees; establishes any individual who participates in such behavior shall be disciplined by the department and may have their employment terminated for cause.
This bill amends New York’s correction law to expand the existing prohibition on degrading treatment of incarcerated people. Under current law, incarcerated individuals may not be subjected to degrading treatment and officers may not use force except in limited circumstances such as self-defense, suppressing a revolt, maintaining order, or preventing escape. The bill adds a new explicit prohibition on corrections employees insulting or otherwise treating an incarcerated person or another department employee in a manner intended to humiliate, offend, provoke, or denigrate them.
The new language specifies that such conduct is prohibited when it is based on age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic characteristics, or the nature of the person’s crime of conviction. It also directs the Department of Corrections to discipline employees who engage in this conduct and authorizes termination for cause. The bill would take effect 90 days after becoming law.
The bill would amend Correction Law section 137 to create a clearer statutory standard governing employee conduct in correctional facilities, extending protections beyond incarcerated individuals to include fellow department employees. It would require the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to treat specified degrading, discriminatory, or humiliating conduct as disciplinable misconduct and could support termination for cause, potentially affecting personnel policies, disciplinary procedures, and workplace training within state correctional facilities.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the measure appears to be framed as a corrective and anti-discrimination policy aimed at improving professionalism and dignity in correctional settings. The overall sentiment is likely favorable toward curbing abusive or humiliating conduct by corrections staff, especially conduct tied to protected characteristics. No contrary positions are documented in the provided record.
The main points of potential contention are the scope of the prohibited conduct and the disciplinary consequences. Supporters would likely emphasize the need to prevent harassment, discrimination, and humiliation of incarcerated people and staff, while critics could question whether terms such as “degrading,” “humiliate,” “offend,” or “provoke” are too broad or subjective for disciplinary enforcement. Another possible issue is the inclusion of the “nature of the individual’s crime of conviction” as a protected basis, which may raise questions about how the rule would be applied in practice.