BILL NUMBER: S1931

SPONSOR: RITCHIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to providing plastic or
composite eating utensils at state correctional facilities

 
PURPOSE:

To mitigate the danger to corrections officers and inmates of metal
utensils used as weapons by ensuring state correctional facilities only
provide plastic or composite eating utensils in facility dining areas

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the correction law by adding new section 625 providing
that all eating utensils provided by state correction facilities must be
made solely from plastic or another composite material.

Section 2 provides the effective date.
              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2017, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision reported 798 assaults on corrections staff statewide, and
1,220 assaults on inmates by other inmates. These unfortunate statistics
remind us that safety must always remain a top priority in our correc-
tional facilities. To ensure that safety, our facilities must make every
effort to avoid inmate access to objects or implements that may readily
be used to harm other inmates, or the corrections officers who put their
lives on the line every day to serve our communities.

Metal utensils in correctional facility dining areas have proven to be a
significant safety risk for staff and inmates alike. On March 9, 2018,
in one of our state's medium security facilities, an inmate used a metal
fork to stab another inmate in the head. The assaulted inmate retaliated
by punching and then stabbing the attacker with his own metal fork.
After the assault escalated, corrections officers were forced to step in
and break up the fight. The metal dining utensils used by these inmates
in this altercation were utensils provided by the correctional facility
in its dining area.

This violent use of metal utensils as weapons is not an isolated inci-
dent. Many correctional facilities have eliminated metal utensils for
inmates in dining facilities based on this risk. In light of the recent
assault and known dangers, this bill would require that state correc-
tional facilities only provide inmates with utensils made solely of
plastic or another composite material in cafeterias, mess halls, and
other dining areas as defined. While the risk of violence is always
present in correctional facilities, we must make every effort to ensure
the safety of our corrections officers, and of the inmates housed in
those facilities.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2018: S.8206/A.10546.

2019-2020: S.1202/A.1591
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.