(a) The Department may place a person in custody in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing if the person is under investigation for or charged with an infraction and meets the following criteria:
(1) The person is reasonably believed by the Department to have committed a Grade I violent offense within the past one (1) business day;
(2) The person's removal from general population is necessary to protect the safety of any person, including staff or other people in custody, prior to the person's hearing; and
(3) The person has caused serious physical injury or poses a specific and significant risk of imminent serious physical injury to staff or other incarcerated persons.
(b) Placement in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing must be approved in writing by the Commissioner, a Deputy Commissioner, or another equivalent member of Department senior leadership over the operations of security. The written approval shall include the basis for a reasonable belief that the incarcerated person has committed a Grade I violent offense, and whether such person has caused serious physical injury or poses a specific and significant risk of imminent serious physical injury to staff or other incarcerated persons.
(c) A person in custody who qualifies for and is placed in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing shall be afforded a disciplinary hearing as soon as reasonably practicable but no later than five (5) days after the person’s placement in pre-hearing detention, unless such person placed in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing seeks a postponement of such hearing. Time spent in such detention prior to the hearing shall count toward the person’s sentence to restrictive housing and such time shall count toward the time limits in restrictive housing set forth in paragraph (1) of subdivision (h) of § 9-167 of the Administrative Code.
(d) If the Department does not hold an infraction hearing within five (5) days and the person placed in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing has not sought a postponement of such hearing, the Department must release the person from pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing.
(e) If the Department determines that the person’s retention in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing is not necessary for the safety or security of that person or others, including staff and other people in custody, the Department must release the person from pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing.
(f) Pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing shall comply with all requirements for restrictive housing.
(g) During the first day of placement in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing, Department staff must regularly monitor the person and engage in continuous crisis intervention and attempt de-escalation, work toward a person’s release from pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing and determine whether it is necessary to continue to hold the person in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing.
(h) The Department shall provide the Board with a semiannual report with information related to its use of prehearing temporary restrictive housing including but not limited to: (1) the number of people placed in prehearing temporary restrictive housing, (2) their placement infractions, (3) time from placement to hearing, (4) whether people placed in pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing were adjudicated for continued placement in restrictive housing, and (5) any other information the Department or the Board deems relevant to the Board’s assessment of pre-hearing temporary restrictive housing. The report shall include data disaggregated by month.
(i) The Board and the Department shall jointly develop reporting templates for the report required by 40 RCNY § 6-04(h) for approval by the Board.
(Added City Record 6/9/2021, eff. 7/9/2021; amended City Record 6/28/2024, eff. 7/28/2024)