BILL NUMBER: S306

SPONSOR: SALAZAR
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to enacting the "Dignity
Not Detention Act"

 
PURPOSE:

Prohibit the entering, renewal, or continuation of immigration detention
contracts.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one is the title of the bill.

Section two amends Article 1 Section 2 of correction law to include two
new subdivisions defining the terms "immigration detention facility" and
"immigration detention contract."

Section three adds a new article 29 to the correction law. This article
              

prohibits governmental entities from entering into or renewing an immi-
gration detention contract or receiving any payments related to immi-
gration detention. This article also prompts any governmental entities
with existing immigration detention contracts to exercise the termi-
nation provision in the contract no later than ninety days after this
law takes effect.

Section four contains a severability clause. Section five is the effec-
tive date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Immigration detention is dangerous, undermines public safety, and is a
threat to New Yorkers all over the state. Immigration detention harms
not only the individuals detained but also their loved ones and communi-
ties. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the public health threats that
detention centers pose to detained individuals, their loved ones, and
the health of all New Yorkers. New York's contracts to profit from the
detention of immigrants fuel a larger deportation machine in which
people are separated from their loved ones and forced into cages.

ICE detention is inhumane and puts people's lives in danger. Many indi-
viduals in ICE detention have not been accused of or convicted of crimi-
nal offenses. People in ICE custody endure horrific conditions including
outbreaks of COVID-19, sexual abuse, denial of health care, harassment
by guards, and unsanitary conditions. On November 28, 2022, ICE released
the private information of over 6,000 detained people fleeing perse-
cution and torture. We cannot wait for the Federal government to end
detention. States and local governments must lead the way.

Reducing bed-space and limiting detention capacity results in less
enforcement and detention. The Detention Watch Network Report, If You
Build it, They Will Fill it, demonstrates that immigrants in counties
with detention space and counties with an overall higher carceral capac-
ity are significantly more likely to be arrested and detained by ICE.
One of their key findings was that closing detention facilities is a

crucial shift to protecting immigrant communities by reducing enforce-
ment, detention, and deportation.

The Orange County Correctional Facility ("OCCF"), which incarcerates
most of the ICE detainees from New York City and has the largest, popu-
lation of people in ICE custody in New York outside of the Federal
detention center in Batavia, has been the subject of numerous
complaints2, City Council hearings, and investigations this past year in
response to ongoing outcry against the rampant abuses inside the facili-
ty.

People incarcerated at OCCF initiated a hunger strike on February 16,
2022, to protest conditions. Those who went on hunger strike reported
retaliation, including solitary confinement, confiscation of tablets,
and restricted access to commissary. On February 28, 2022, The New York
City Council Immigration Committee held an oversight hearing on COVID-19
in Immigration Detention, with a particular focus on the harms at Orange
County Correctional Facility. During the hearing, people who were
formerly or currently detained at the facility shared stories of the
abuse and harassment they suffer at the hands of guards, the low quality
of food, and lack of access to medical and mental health care, and
compromised access to counsel. Although the reports on OCCF are the
worst in the State, there have been reports of other facilities that
detain immigrant New Yorkers that have caused harm through gross negli-
gence. Complaints have also been filed against Rensselaer County Jail in
response to egregious living conditions and medical negligence. After
their oversight hearing, the NYC Council adopted a resolution, Res
0066-2022, on March 10, 2022, calling on the NYS Legislature to pass and
the Governor to sign the Dignity Not Detention bill.

In the furtherance of justice, public interest, and the safeguarding of
humane treatment for all individuals in New York, and in accordance with
the State legislature's authority over its counties and municipalities,
this legislation seeks to end current immigration detention contracts
and to indefinitely prohibit new contracts of the same.

It is already illegal in New York state for private enterprises to
profit from incarcerating people. New York passed this law because it
was widely recognized that it was neither a humane practice nor in the
public interest. And yet, the indirect profiteering from the same activ-
ity is still permitted in New York. It is the intent of the Legislature
that this bill declare that the state does not tolerate profiting from
the incarceration of people held in immigration detention. State and
local governments have no obligation to participate in immigration
enforcement as the enforcement of civil immigration laws is the exclu-
sive responsibility of the federal government.

As the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department,
recently affirmed, the New York Criminal Procedure Law provides no
authority for police officers and peace officers in New York to make
arrests for civil immigrations violations absent a judicial warrant.
This legislation adds to these existing restrictions by prohibiting
governmental entities from entering, renewing, or continuing immigration
detention contracts.

This bill is supported, among other organizations, by the Committee on
Immigration Representation of the NYS Bar Association, the NY Civil
Liberties Union, the NY Immigration Coalition, and the Bronx Defenders.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

SENATE:

2021: S7373 (Salazar) - Referred to Rules

2022: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime & Correction

ASSEMBLY:

2021: A7099A (Reyes) - Referred to Correction

2022: Referred to Correction

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/sites/default/files/IP/020They¤/020
Build%201t,%2010E%20Will%20 Filr/0201T_Report_2022.pdf 2
https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/OCCP/020Multi-
Organization¤/020DHS%2OCRC0/020ComplaintY020and%20Index_2%2017%202022.pdf