31-b-3 New York's Classification Guidelines

LibraryA Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

31-B-3. New York's Classification Guidelines

In New York, new prisoners are assigned an initial classification score at a reception facility. Reclassification hearings occur periodically. In New York State, the initial reclassification screening occurs six months after a prisoner is taken into custody. Subsequent reclassifications take place every three months after that.12 The counselor assigning the classification enters numerical factors into a computer program, which then calculates a score. The information used to determine the factor values comes from evidence presented in the Commitment Paper, the Presentence Report ("PSR"), warrants, the Division of Criminal Justice Services ("DCJS") Summary Case History ("Rap Sheet"), sentencing minutes (when available), your interview, and, if you have served a prior DOCCS term, any available Department records of that term.13 Both official and unofficial documents may be relied upon, though evidence from unofficial documents "should be evaluated in relation to official documents and used where appropriate."14 If a counselor cannot resolve inconsistencies between documents, the counselor is supposed to use the "most cautious alternative."15

New York's Security Classification Guidelines identify two types of security risks:

(1) public risk, which is the likelihood that a prisoner will escape and be a danger to the...

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