Report on the Enactment by the NYS Department of Correction and Community Supervision of a Parental Contact Protocol

SUMMARY

The Criminal Courts Committee prepared a report on the Parental Contact Protocol issued by the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) meant to protect the constitutional rights of people on either parole or post-release supervision (“releasees”) for whom DOCCS has issued parole conditions that limit or restrict their contact with their children. The Protocol created an administrative scheme by which releasees may request contact with their children. The Committee applauds DOCCS’s enactment of the Protocol as an important step toward guaranteeing an appropriate balance between the interests of community supervision and the fundamental rights implicated by restrictions on parental contact. However, the Committee believes that certain elements of the Protocol do not adequately account for the primacy of a releasee’s right to parental contact, and the report analyzes the Protocol, identifies potential problems, and recommends areas for amendment.