From the opening of the first State prison in 1797 until the present day, New York State's correctional system has had a wide influence on the direction of criminology and penology in the United States. Among the important early institutions established in New York State were: Newgate Prison (1797), Auburn Prison (1818), New York House of Refuge (1824), Sing Sing Prison (1828), Dannemora Prison (1845), Western House of Refuge (1849), Elmira Reformatory (1876), and Bedford Hills Reformatory for Women (1901). Newgate, Auburn, Sing Sing, and Dannemora were instrumental in the development of the nineteenth-century penitentiary movement throughout the country. In particular, the Auburn system of discipline--congregate work by day, solitary separation in cells at night, enforced silence, lockstep formations, and severe corporal punishment--served as a model for similar institutions elsewhere.
Elmira Reformatory was the first adult reformatory in the country and precipitated a national reformatory movement. Elmira's innovative, highly publicized program included indefinite sentences based on conduct and performance, individualized treatment of inmates, and the extensive use of parole. In the development of reformatories for women, Bedford Hills was extremely important and its programs were emulated at many other institutions. Most influential were Bedford's programs for the scientific study of "feeblemindedness" and "defective-delinquency" as causes of crime.
Until 1846, the State's corrections system was administered by a board of inspectors that in turn appointed wardens for each prison. The State constitution of 1846 established a single Board of Prisons to oversee all State prisons, and in 1876 this board was replaced by the Office of Superintendent of State Prisons. The reorganization of State government in 1925 and 1926 abolished the Office of Superintendent of State Prisons and set up a Department of Correction headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor (Laws of 1926, Chapter 606). In addition to continuing the work of the superintendent of state prisons, the Department of Correction also assumed the functions of the State Board of Charities relating to correctional institutions. Since 1867, the State Board of Charities and its predecessor, the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, had been responsible for supervising correctional institutions (except prisons) and reformatories in the State.
The Department of Correction was comprised of four divisions: a Division of Administration, responsible for custody of inmates and maintenance of institutions; a Division of Prison Industries, supervising prison and reformatory production shops and farm work; a Division of Parole; and a Division of Probation. In 1930 (Chapter 824), the Division of Parole was transferred from the Department of Correction to the Executive Department.
In 1970 (Chapter 475), the Department of Correctional Services was created. It consolidated the previous Department of Correction, the State Commission of Correction (established in 1926), and the Division of Parole. A 1970 companion law (Chapter 479) removed the Division of Probation from the new department and transferred it to the Executive Department. In 1972 (Chapter 399), the department's Division of Criminal Investigation was transferred to the newly formed Division of Criminal Justice Services in the Executive Department. In 1973 (Chapter 398), the Commission of Correction was also separated from the department and made an independent agency within the Executive Department. In 1977, administration of hospitals for mentally ill inmates was transferred to the Department of Mental Hygiene (Chapter 978) and the Division of Parole was again removed from the department and made an independent Executive Department agency (Chapter 904).
In 1987, the department inaugurated an innovative Shock Incarceration program aimed at reducing length of prison stays and recidivism among nonviolent first felony offenders. Inmates who meet specific program criteria and are within three years of release are offered the opportunity to volunteer for the six-month program, which features intensive academic study, drug treatment, personal counseling, demanding physical labor, and rigorous military-style discipline. As of 2004 over 31,000 inmates, including women who were admitted beginning in 1988, had completed the program and earned early release. In 1995, building on many of the concepts featured in the Shock Incarceration program, the Department opened the Willard Drug Treatment Campus as an alternative to incarceration. The Willard Treatment Campus was meant for non-violent offenders whose crimes had been substance abuse related.
In 1998 the Department established an automated telephone system to be used by the public (including victims and family members of victims) to receive information about the crime and sentence of particular inmates. In 1999, the Department began operating an online database from which the public can obtain similar information, as well as information regarding inmate age, ethnicity, race, and county of commitment. That same year, in an attempt to consolidate functions and reduce expenses, the Parkside Correctional Facility was closed and certain infirmaries were consolidated.
The Division of Parole traces its origins to an 1877 law (Chapter 424) empowering the superintendent of state prisons to appoint an agent at each State prison to assist inmates whose terms were about to expire to find suitable homes and employment. An 1889 law (Chapter 382) established a Board of Commissioners for Paroled Prisoners at each prison, composed of the agent, warden, chaplain, physician, principal keeper, and the superintendent of state prisons. Inmates who had served their minimum sentences could apply to these boards for parole. In 1901 (Chapter 260) these separate parole boards were discontinued and the State Commissioner of Prisons (created in 1894) was designated to serve in a dual capacity as Board of Commissioners for Paroled Prisoners. In 1908 (Chapter 239), the duties of this board were transferred to the newly created Board of Parole for State Prisons, consisting of the superintendent of prisons and two gubernatorial appointees.
Following the reorganization of State government in 1925 and 1926, the Board of Parole for State Prisons was continued and made head of a new Division of Parole within the Department of Correction. The commissioner of correction replaced the superintendent of state prisons on the board. A 1930 law (Chapter 824) transferred the Division of Parole to the Executive Department, where its powers and duties remained the same. The Board of Parole for State Prisons was continued with three gubernatorial appointees as members.
When the Department of Correction was reorganized as the Deparment of Correctional Services in 1970 (Chapter 475), the Division of Parole became an administrative unit of the new department. The restructured division included a State Board of Parole, which was assigned the power to decide cases and conditions of parole and to revoke parole. The Division of Parole was again separated from the Department of Correctional Services in 1977 (Chapter 904) and established as an independent Executive Department agency. The State Board of Parole was continued with the same membership. The 1977 legislation mandated the formal adoption of parole guidelines designed to structure the Parole Board's decisions concerning the minimum period of imprisonment and the granting or denying of parole release.
Legislation enacted in 2001 (Chapter 62) required the State Board of Parole to provide written notification to inmates, prior to their release on parole, of any legal requirement that these inmates report their financial assets to the New York State Crime Victims Board, which provides financial assistance to eligible victims of crime. In 2011 (Chapter 62), the Department of Correctional Services and the Division of Parole were merged to create the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The Community Supervision unit within the department assumed the functions and responsibilities formerly carried out by the Division of Parole. The Board of Parole also became part of this department, with independent decision and rule making authority regarding the powers and duties as described in Article 12-B of the Executive Law.
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The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is responsible for the confinement and rehabilitation of approximately 52,000 inmates held at sixty-two correctional facilities throughout the State. The department performs a number of activities in carrying out this function. It confines offenders at appropriate security levels and maintains order through disciplinary action when necessary. It fulfills the basic daily needs of inmates and provides necessary medical and dental care. The department offers habilitation opportunities through academic, vocational, maintenance, and industrial programs. In addition, the department administers programs for inmates who require protective custody or specialized treatment for mental or physical handicaps or who have drug, alcohol, or emotional problems. Finally, the department helps inmates adjust to their eventual return to the community by allowing the release of qualified inmates on a temporary basis.
Parole is the process of releasing an inmate into the community prior to the expiration of the inmate's maximum sentence of confinement in a State correctional institution. In administering the state's parole system, the Community Supervision unit within the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision performs a number of functions. These include maintaining information on each inmate under the jurisdiction of the department; maintaining records on every person on parole; supervising inmates released on parole; conducting investigations in connection with alleged parole violations; and assisting inmates eligible for parole or who are on parole to secure employment, education, or vocational training. The unit also performs similar functions in administering the state's conditional release program.
The Board of Parole is an administrative body within the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The board determines which inmates in a state correctional facility may be released on parole, when the release takes place, and under what conditions the parole is granted. The board also determines the conditions of release of inmates granted a conditional release. The board may revoke the parole or conditional release of any person under the department's supervision and may issue a warrant for the retaking of the person.
