New York State Council Meeting

Transcription

1 ANDREW M. CUOMO Governor MICHAEL C. GREEN Executive Deputy Commissioner ROBERT M. MACCARONE Deputy Commissioner and Director Welcome and Opening Remarks New York State Council Meeting Interstate Compact for Adult Supervision NYS Criminal Justice Services Alfred E. Smith Office Building 80 South Swan Street, Room 118 Albany, NY Tuesday, December 19, 2017 Robert Maccarone, Deputy Commissioner and Director of the Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives Interstate Commissioner and Compact Administrator and Chair Welcome Members of the Council and Guests Introductions of State Council Members Honorable Donald O Geen Wyoming County District Attorney Tina Stanford Chairwoman NYS Board of Parole Hon. Michael Yavinsky Supervising Criminal Court Judge Kings County Elizabeth Cronin Director Office of Victim Services Felix Rosa Deputy Compact Administrator/Parole NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Michael C. Green Executive Deputy Commissioner NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Honorable Phil Ramos Assemblyman 1

2 Guests Matthew Charton Deputy Compact Administrator Adult Probation NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Tim O Brien Director of Internal Operations NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Kathleen Kiley Counsel NYS Board of Parole Kelly Palmateer Supervisor, Interstate Unit, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Penney Belcher Supervisor, Interstate Unit, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Raymond Tashjian Agency Program Aide, Interstate Unit, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Tyrone Catoe Agency Program Aide, Interstate Unit, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Nicholas Burnash - Agency Program Aide, Interstate Unit, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Cindi Smith Administrative Assistant Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives Council Members Absent Dennis Houdek, Esq Attorney Honorable Daniel O Donnell - Assemblyman Minutes NYS Compact Administrator Robert Maccarone announced that there are currently two vacancies on the Council. Janice Grieshaber-Geddes, Council s Victim Representative has resigned. DCJS has identified a new candidate and is working with the Governor s Office for review and appointment. Honorable Daniel O Donnell, Assemblyman is no longer the Chair of the Assembly Correction Committee and will be stepping down from his council seat. Once we receive Assemblyman O Donnell s letter of resignation, we will begin to pursue a new candidate from the Assembly. Compact Administrator Maccarone asked that council members review the minutes of the May 23, 2017 State Council meeting. Council members reviewed with no corrections or additions recommended. Council Member Donald O Geen made a motion to accept, seconded by Council Member Elizabeth Cronin. Minutes of the May 23, 2017 State Council meeting were approved. Compact Administrator Robert Maccarone asked that the agenda for today s meeting be reviewed. Council members reviewed with no corrections, deletions or additions. Council Member Donald O Geen made a motion to accept the agenda, seconded by Council Member Felix Rosa. The agenda for today s state council meeting was approved. 2

3 Mission Statement Compact Administrator Maccarone asked Probation Deputy Compact Administrator (DCA) Matthew Charton to read aloud the council s mission statement. The mission statement was read with no questions or comments raised Review of Interstate Compliance Data Probation and Parole Compact Administrator Maccarone asked DCA Matthew Charton to review and present the compliance data for New York State probation. DCA Charton reviewed the probation data for the month of October DCA Charton commented that this type of report is delivered monthly to OPCA Staff at the monthly report-out sessions. DCA Charton highlighted the disproportionate number of outgoing versus the number of incoming transfers, with the incoming more than doubling the number of outgoing monthly. Council Member Elizabeth Cronin asked for clarification on the qualifying reason offenders transfer through the compact. DCA Charton outlined the qualifying reasons for transfer and spoke about discretionary transfers. DCA Charton states that resident and resident family comprise approximately 90% of incoming transfers to NYS. Council Member and DCJS Commissioner Michael Green asked how the compact defines a juvenile and adult? DCA Charton related that in NYS anyone 16 and over is considered an adult and anyone under the age of 16 is considered a juvenile, but that each state s age of majority is different and the focus is on what court family or criminal the individual was sentenced out of, which will define what compact - juvenile or adult the individual will be transferred through. DCA Charton also discussed the Interstate Unit s Warrant Tracker system, which tracks the responsibility of New York courts to issue warrants and NY probation departments to retake once a case is closed in the Interstate Compact Offender Tracking System. Parole DCA Felix Rosa pointed out that it seems like OPCA s Interstate Compact Unit s biggest challenge is that there are 58 probation departments, administered at the county level with over 1,000 ICOTS users, whereas NYS DOCCS has limited ICOTS users and a single system for tracking warrants and overdue reports. DCA Charton concurred and spoke about the challenges of having many field officers who have ICOTS access. DCA Charton spoke about a relatively new training requirement for any new ICOTS user within probation departments to complete a 2 hour WebEx on ICOTS and ICAOS basics within 60 days of being granted access to ICOTS DCA Felix Rosa spoke about parole data noting that his office continues to do very well in compliance with overdue reports. He states they are at or very near 100% in most categories. DCA Rosa commented on the difference in the number of parolees transferring versus the number of probationers transferring. DCA Rosa spoke about a recent trend he has noticed with the increase of parolees transferring out of NYS within the last 2 years. Council Member Elizabeth Cronin asked if there was a difference in the rules in regards to probationers and parolees. DCA Rosa explained the compact rules are the same for both populations. Compact Administrator Maccarone asked DCA Charton to update the council on the informal audit the ICAOS National Office performed on offender photos. DCA Charton explained that recently the National Office reviewed all compact offender photos in ICOTS and developed a system to determine which photos were compliant and non-compliant. Although NYS did not do well, the primary reason was that parole photos were black and white which the National Office deemed non-compliant. Compact Administrator Maccarone noted that there were no previous guidelines offered on offender photos uploaded in ICOTS and the standards were developed after the informal audit. Both DCA 3

4 Charton and DCA Rosa stated that photos now uploaded to ICOTS meet the new national Office guidelines. The Council Members did not have any further comments or questions. Review of new ICAOS Rules passed at the ICAOS Annual Business Meeting Pittsburgh, PA on October 11, 2017 Compact Administrator Maccarone asked DCA Charton to review the recent ICAOS rule changes that were approved in Pittsburgh, PA on October 11, DCA Charton briefly reviewed each rule change that passed at the Annual Business Meeting: ICAOS Rule Forms States are no longer required to keep the original copy of the Offender Application. Since the implantation of ICOTS, the application is uploaded into ICOTS as part of the Transfer Request. ICAOS Rule Transfer Request Removed the term Transfer Request and the need for the original application for interstate transfer ICAOS Rule Mandatory reporting instructions and transfer of military, families of military, family members employed, employment transfer and veterans for medical or mental health services Now requires supporting documentation for the categories of mandatory transfer under this rule. ICAOS Rule Victims right to be heard and comment Moved the time for a victim to respond from 10 business days to fifteen. ICAOS Rule Time allowed for investigation by receiving state Allows offenders who were in the receiving state on approved Reporting Instructions but the Transfer was denied, to remain in receiving state, if receiving state approves, while a new plan of supervision is investigated. ICAOS Rule Offenders Returning to Sending State Requires receiving state to document reason for offenders return to sending state when requesting Reporting Instructions. Requires receiving state to declare an offender an absconder if offender cannot be located to provide return to sending state Reporting Instructions. 4

5 Review Violation, Sanctions and Retaking rules implemented June 1, 2017 Compact Administrator Maccarone asked DCA Charton to update the Council on the status of the Violation, Sanctions and Retaking rules that were implemented on June 1, DCA Charton gave the council a brief history on the need for changes to the Three Significant Violation rules as well as the issues that involved the submission of Progress Reports. DCA Charton then used PowerPoint to show the significant difference in the number of violations submitted through ICOTS once the rule changes as well as the number of retakes that almost mirror the number of violations submitted. DCA Charton commented that to continue the success we have shown in this area we require field officers to document all non-compliance through Progress Reports and Violation Requiring Retaking. DCA Charton spoke about the extensive training that was provided to probation officers throughout NYS on this subject. Compact Administrator Maccarone believes that finally field officers in the receiving state could supervise interstate compact offenders as they would their own, which results in an equal standard of supervision for all of those under supervision. DCA Charton noted the evaluation of the new rules impact will continue and the council will be updated. Update on ICOTS Victim Notification Services IVINS (VINEWatch) Link to ICOTS Compact Administrator Maccarone opened the discussion on the subject of interstate victim notification by informing the council of the new name for VINEWatch, which is now called the ICOTS Victim Notification Service (IVINS). DCA Charton provided the council with a brief history of VINEWatch and the challenges it has faced, including low usage and the possibility of the commission ending the system. DCA Charton also reviewed what steps the council played in identifying how the system could better serve victims of crime during our February 2015 council meeting. After hearing from the council, NYS, along with CT Compact Administrator Gary Roberge, who chairs the ICAOS Technology Committee worked diligently with Appriss, Inc., the owner of VINEWatch, to make it more user friendly and effective in providing notifications to victims. Apriss redeveloped the system and the commission renamed it IVINS and it now provides for victim notification through text, and phone alerts and victims can self-register. NY plans to move ahead with implementation after carefully planning how to best inform probation departments, victim advocacy agencies, courts, district attorney s offices and any other victim access point where IVINS could be used. Council Member Michael Yavinsky inquired about victims having 15 days to give a statement regarding an offender s interstate transfer. He was advised that the victim s response was presently a written response. He recommended, with new technology, that an option be developed that would allow victims to provide their feedback electronically. Compact Administrator expressed his appreciation to Council Member Yavinsky and indicated that this is exactly the feedback needed for this system. DCA Charton recognized that IVINS will be a work in progress and during implementation we would continue to learn about best practices and how to improve the service. Council Member Tina Stanford indicated that victims are presently able to communicate electronically with the Parole Board today. New Business Compact Administrator Maccarone noted that we will be bringing the issue of adding a warrant management component to ICOTS to ensure warrants are issued and retakes are completed in accordance with relevant ICOAS rules. 5

6 DCA Rosa spoke about unsupervised supervision and discussed a case parole is experiencing an issue with. Compact Administrator Maccarone spoke about the notion of unsupervised supervision and how it impacts states that do not recognize the concept. Compact Administrator Maccarone believes that a national discussion is needed on the issue and he will elevate the issue during the next ICAOS Rules Committee meeting. DCA Charton briefly discussed the training agenda for probation departments in NYS and outlines the tentative schedule and topics for DCA Rosa commented he has become a mentor for new DCAs. Closing Remarks Council Member O Geen commented that they had a DWI fatality in his jurisdiction that was committed by an interstate transfer from PA. He suggested the council could possibly review the case as it highlights the complexities of interstate transfers. The council agreed that this may be beneficial. Compact Administrator Maccarone asked if there were any other comments or questions, receiving none, he requested a motion to adjourn. Council member Donald O Geen motioned for adjournment and was seconded by Council Member Stanford. Meeting was called to a close at 1:20 PM Next Meeting: May 17,