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The New York State Department of Correctional Services, guided by the Departmental Mission, is responsible for the confinement and habilitation of approximately 59,000 inmates held at 67 state correctional facilities plus the 916-bed Willard Drug Treatment Campus.
Commissioner Brian Fischer appeared at the public hearing on the Public Protection portion of the 2010-11 Executive Budget, held by the State Legislature's fiscal committees on February 8, 2010, and presented testimony on the Department of Correctional Services' proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins April 1, 2010.
Governor David A. Paterson released his 2010-11 Executive Budget proposal on January 19, 2010, as detailed in the Governor's press release. The budget calls for the closure of three correctional facilities and a portion of a fourth by the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year, as detailed in a Division of Budget press release and a Department Fact Sheet.
The Winter 2010 issue of the Department's quarterly newsletter
is now available to view. Previous issues are also available on the "News
Room" tab on the left-hand column.
DOCS, working collaboratively with the Office of Mental Health, opened a
first-in-the-nation, 100-bed Residential Mental Health Unit at Marcy Correctional
Facility on December 15, 2009 for inmates with serious mental illness and
disciplinary confinement sanctions. Details are provided in a press
release and Commissioner Brian Fischer's memo
to facility superintendents.
New York is the first state to provide the on-line version of its victim information and notification system in Spanish statewide for any concerned citizen. With federal funding provided through the Crime Victims Board, the Department of Correctional Services has made VINELink, the online version of VINE® (Victim Information and Notification Everyday), available in Spanish, as detailed in a press release (also available en Español).
Security Services Unit employees represented by the New York State Correctional
Officers & Police Benevolent Association are now eligible for all the
benefit programs offered by WorkLife Services, including for the first time
the Dependent Care Advantage Account, which allows employees to set aside
$300 to $800 annually of pre-tax salary for their child care, elder care,
or disabled dependent care. Also available are the Employee Assistance Program,
Worksite Child Care Centers located around New York, full-day seminars for
those nearing retirement age, and NYS-Balance and NYS-Ride, both of which
were previously available as the Lifeworks program and a limited pilot program,
respectively. Detailed information about these negotiated benefits is available
at www.worklife.state.ny.us
and through program-specific telephone numbers and websites. Additionally,
NYS-Balance, available to all employees, is offering monthly “webinars,”
including a session on “Relationship Revival”
on
February 18, 2010.