N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 9 § 1.5

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 50, December 11, 2024

Section 1.5 - Executive order no. 5: recommending special procedures to be followed by parole board in all cases involving individuals convicted of murder or of sex crimes

TO: Chairman of the Board of Parole

Commissioner of Correction

Commissioner of Mental Hygiene

Tragic events in the course of the past month involving a recently paroled inmate have focused public attention upon important matters of correction and parole to which you and your associates have given earnest and continuing consideration. These events have emphasized the special difficulties faced by the Parole Board in reaching sound determination in cases involving prisoners who have been convicted of homicides or of serious sex offenses. In such cases, insight into the individual's personality is of particular importance and the need for safeguarding the public looms very large.

The Parole Board has furnished me with a report as to the circumstances surrounding the release on parole of the inmate involved in this recent crime and has made available to my Counsel and his staff for their inspection the records relating to this case.

Consultation with the entire membership of the Parole Board and with representatives of the Department of Correction and the Department of Mental Hygiene and a review of these materials from the Parole Board indicate that there are certain specific ways in which parole procedures for cases where the safety of the public is necessarily of such concern can be further significantly strengthened. I am accordingly making the following recommendations to the Parole Board and directing by this Executive Order that the following administrative action be taken to permit the Parole Board to adapt its procedures to effect by recommendations:

A. Recommendations to the Parole Board

1. A special procedure should be followed by the Parole Board in all cases involving individuals who have been convicted of murder or of sex crimes in which indeterminate life sentences have been imposed and in cases where the individual has been committed to Dannemora State Hospital during the term of his sentence.

2. Under this procedure the Parole Board would obtain special psychiatric reports to be made under the supervision of the Department of Mental Hygiene upon prospective parolees in the above group and in such other special cases as the Parole Board may determine.

3. The Parole Board would withhold its final determination until it receives and considers such special psychiatric reports.

4. The ultimate decision on whether or not to parole would still lie exclusively with the Parole Board, but in reaching its decision the Board would have available to it the additional insight of such special professional reports.

B. Administrative Action

1. Establishing special psychiatric procedures

The Department of Mental Hygiene shall promptly provide appropriate staff to establish special psychiatric procedures for examining prospective parolees at the Sing Sing State Prison in Ossining, New York, and at the Attica State Prison in Attica, New York.

The Department of Correction shall transfer from any of the other correctional institutions in the State and make available for the special psychiatric examinations at the two institutions the prospective parolees designated by the Parole Board.

2. The Department of Correction and the Parole Board shall strengthen and extend the "service unit" program in the correctional institutions as rapidly as qualified staff can be recruited, thereby providing additional guidance, counselling and related services and strengthening the work done in preparing comprehensive evaluations of inmates for the use of the Parole Board.

Signed: Nelson A. RockefellerDated: July 23, 1960

[FN*] [Amended by Executive Order No. 9, infra.]

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 § 1.5

Amended by Executive Order No. 9, infra.