N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 § 8000.5 - Parole records
(a) The
division shall cause to be obtained and filed, as soon as practicable,
information as complete as may be obtainable with regard to each inmate who is
received in an institution under the jurisdiction of the State Department of
Correctional Services, including a complete statement of the crime for which
the inmate has been sentenced, the circumstances of such crime, all presentence
memoranda, the nature of the sentence, the court in which he was sentenced, the
name of the judge and district attorney, and copies of such probation reports
as may have been made, as well as reports as to the inmate's social, physical,
mental and psychiatric condition and history.
(b) The division shall cause complete records
to be kept of every person on parole or conditional release. Such records shall
contain the aliases and photographs of each person and the information referred
to in subdivision (a) of this section, as well as all reports of parole
officers in relation to such persons.
(c) Access to case records maintained by the
Division of Parole.
(1) An inmate, a releasee
or counsel for either may have access to information contained in the parole
case record:
(i) prior to a scheduled
appearance before the board;
(ii)
prior to a scheduled appearance before an authorized hearing officer of the
division; or
(iii) prior to the
timely perfecting of an administrative appeal of a final decision of the
board.
(2) In that it is
essential to protect the internal process by which division personnel assist
the board in formulating individual decisions with respect to inmates and
releasees; to prevent disclosures of information to inmates and releasees that
would jeopardize legitimate correctional interests of security, custody,
supervision or rehabilitation; to permit receipt of relevant information
regarding such persons from other Federal, State and local law enforcement
agencies, and Federal and State probation and judicial offices; to permit
private citizens to express freely their opinions for or against an
individual's parole; to allow relevant criminal history type information of
codefendants to be kept; to allow medical, psychiatric and sociological
material to be available to professional staff; and to permit a candid process
of factual analysis, opinion formulation, evaluation and recommendation to be
continued by professional staff: the following conditions and limitations are
imposed regarding access to information in the parole case record pursuant to
paragraph (1) of this subdivision.
(i) Access
shall be granted only to those portions of the case record which will be
considered by the board or authorized hearing officer at a hearing or pursuant
to an administrative appeal of a final decision of the board, except:
(a) access shall not be granted to those
portions of the case record to the extent that they contain:
(1) diagnostic opinions which, if known to
the inmate/releasee, could lead to a serious disruption of his institutional
program or supervision;
(2)
materials which would reveal sources of information obtained upon a promise of
confidentiality;
(3) any
information which if disclosed might result in harm, physical or otherwise, to
any person;
(b) access
by the Division of Parole shall not be granted to reports, documents and
materials of other agencies, including but not limited to probation reports,
drug abuse and alcoholism rehabilitation records, and the DCJS
report.
(ii) Any record
of the Division of Parole not made available pursuant to this section shall not
be released, except by the chairman upon good cause shown.
(3) Requests for access to case records prior
to an appearance before the board or an authorized hearing officer, or prior to
the timely perfecting of an administrative appeal, shall be made in writing to
the:
(i) senior parole officer, or parole
officer in charge, of the State correctional facility where the inmate/releasee
is confined; or
(ii) director of
the area parole office serving the locale where the releasee is confined in a
city or county jail or correctional facility; at least 10 days prior to the
scheduled date of a final revocation hearing or the final date to perfect an
administrative appeal, and at most one day subsequent to receipt of notice of
the scheduled date of any other hearing.
(4) All requests by counsel on behalf of an
inmate/releasee for access to case records must be accompanied by a signed
authorization from such inmate/releasee, in which a waiver of his/her privacy
interest is clearly stated.
(5) For
the purpose of access to case records, the senior parole officer or parole
officer in charge at an institution, or the director of an area parole office
or such other professional staff person(s) designated by one of the above
persons, shall be the records access officer.
(6) Review of those portions of the case
record to which access is granted may take place on the day of the hearing or
earlier at the:
(i) State institution where
the inmate/releasee is confined; or
(ii) area parole office serving the locale of
the city or county institution where the inmate/releasee is confined;
pursuant to arrangements made for review on any workday with records access officer or his designee.
(7) Pursuant to a review of a case record as
noted in paragraph (6) of this subdivision, the inmate/releasee or counsel for
either may request and receive copies of such records upon payment to the
records access officer of 25 cents per page.
(8) Requests for access to case records shall
state the name and identification number of the inmate/releasee, the nature of
the pending hearing and the present institution of confinement.
(d) Any record of the Division of
Parole not made available pursuant to this section shall not be released,
except by the chairman upon good cause shown.
(e) Requests for access to records in the
parole file prior to an appearance before the Board of Parole, or an authorized
hearing officer, shall be made in writing to the chairman of the board at
Central Office (Albany) at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the
hearing.
(f) The request should
identify, to the extent possible, the information to which access is sought and
should state the reasons requiring such access.
(g) In addition to the forwarding of the
request to Central Office, a copy of the request should be forwarded to the
senior parole officer at the inmate's institution of confinement or to the
director of the area parole office serving the locale of the releasee's local
confinement.
(h) Review of the
reports, documents and materials to which access is granted may take place at
the institution where the inmate or releasee is confined on the day of the
hearing or sooner, pursuant to arrangements made for such review with parole
staff at the institution or in the area office where appropriate.
(i) Requests for access to records shall
state the name of the inmate or releasee, the nature of the pending hearing and
the present institution of confinement.
Notes
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