(a) Security staff shall conduct visual observations of every person housed in RMAS every fifteen minutes (15) when they are locked in their cells. During such observations, security staff must look for and confirm signs of life.
(b) At the beginning of each tour, security staff in RMAS units shall confirm in the housing area logbook that they have checked which persons in the unit have serious medical conditions, as described in 40 RCNY § 6-21(a).
(c) The Department shall provide people housed in RMAS Level 1 with the opportunity to lock out at the same time as at least one other person in custody in a setting where individuals can meaningfully engage both visually and aurally. Such lockout setting must allow for individuals to converse easily without the need to raise their voices to be heard.
(d) The Department shall provide people in custody confined in RMAS Level 2 with the opportunity to lock out at the same time as at least three (3) other people in custody in a setting where individuals can meaningfully engage both visually and aurally. Such lockout setting must allow for individuals to converse easily without the need to raise their voices to be heard. If fewer than four (4) persons are confined in RMAS Level 2 at any given time, the Department must instead guarantee that a person in custody confined in RMAS Level 2 has the opportunity to lock out at the same time as least one other person in custody in a setting where individuals can meaningfully engage both visually and aurally, and converse easily without the need to raise their voices to be heard.
(e) The Department many not impose any individual restrictions on a person confined in RMAS that differs from those imposed on people housed in the general population, unless the individual restriction is necessary to address a specific safety and security threat posed by that person.
(f) To the extent the Department seeks to limit access to contact visits of a person in custody who is confined in RMAS, a hearing shall be held, as required in 40 RCNY § 6-24(d), which shall address the criteria set forth in 40 RCNY § 1-09(h) with regard to both the incarcerated person and any individual visitors with whom the Department wishes to limit contact.
(g) Law library services may be provided in RMAS Level 1 and Level 2 units instead of a law library. If so, the Department must ensure that:
(1) People in each Level 1 and Level 2 unit have access to electronic legal research and typing equipment;
(2) One library coordinator is assigned to every two (2) RMAS units at least five (5) times per week; and
(3) The law library coordinator will provide instruction on available legal research tools and respond to people in custody's requests for law library services.
(h) To the extent the Department offers people confined in RMAS recreation in outdoor recreation pens or in vacant cells, the Department shall equip these pens or cells with exercise equipment such as dip bars, high bars, or pull-up bars.
(i) All RMAS units shall be air conditioned during the heat season.
(j) All cells used to house people in RMAS shall have access to natural light.
(Added City Record 6/9/2021, eff. 7/9/2021)