(a) The Department may only confine a person in custody for de-escalation purposes immediately following an incident where the person has caused physical injury or poses a specific risk of imminent serious physical injury to staff, themselves or other incarcerated persons. The purpose of de-escalation confinement is to:
(1) Aid a person in calming behavior where such person poses an immediate threat to the safety of the person or others or significantly disrupts Department activities in progress. The Department may only resort to confinement for this purpose after other less restrictive measures have been exhausted or have been or are likely to be ineffective.
(2) Temporarily place a person in custody for the person’s own safety after the person has been assaulted or otherwise victimized by another person in custody and such person poses a specific risk of imminent serious physical injury to staff, themselves or other incarcerated persons.
(b) The Department shall immediately notify CHA of a person in custody’s placement in de- escalation confinement, including the initial and any subsequent locations of such confinement, so that the person’s access to medical and mental health services and medication is not interrupted.
(c) The Department shall conduct visual and aural observation of every person in de-escalation confinement every fifteen (15) minutes, shall refer any health concerns to medical or mental health staff, and shall bring any person displaying any indications of any need for medical documentation, observation, or treatment to the medical clinic.
(d) Suicide prevention aides may conduct check-ins with a person in de-escalation confinement at least every fifteen (15) minutes and refer any health concerns to department staff who will get medical or mental health staff to treat any reported immediate health needs. No suicide prevention aide shall face any retaliation or other harm for carrying out their role.
(e) Department staff must regularly monitor a person in de-escalation confinement and engage in continuous crisis intervention and de-escalation to support the person’s health and well-being, attempt de-escalation, work toward a person’s release from de-escalation confinement and determine whether it is necessary to continue to hold such person in such confinement.
(f) The Department shall only utilize individual cells for the purpose of de-escalation confinement. Such cells may not be located in intake areas or decontamination showers.
(h) Throughout de-escalation confinement, a person shall have access to a tablet or device that allows such person to make phone calls outside of the facility and to medical staff in the facility.
(i) The Department must serve meals and snacks to people in custody while in de-escalation confinement at or about the same time as, and be of the same quality and quantity of, the meals served to people in the general population.
(j) The Department shall not hold someone in de-escalation confinement for longer than the minimum amount of time required for the Department to conduct an assessment and determine the person’s subsequent placement. A person shall be removed from de-escalation confinement immediately following when such person has sufficiently gained control and no longer poses a significant risk of imminent serious physical injury to themselves or others. In addition, the following time limitations apply:
(1) The Department may not place a person in de-escalation confinement for more than four (4) hours immediately following the incident precipitating placement in such confinement, more than four (4) hours in any twenty-four-hour period, or more than twelve (12) hours in any seven-day period. The Department shall document every placement on a form designed for this purpose, which shall specify the reasons for the placement, why it was necessary to de-escalate an immediate conflict, and the person’s length of time in de-escalation confinement.
(2) After holding a person in de-escalation confinement for two (2) hours, the Department must reauthorize the confinement through written approval up the Department’s security chain of command. The reauthorization approval shall consider the reasons therefor, including what attempts were made by the Department to transfer the person in custody out of de-escalation confinement after two (2) hours.
(3) For the purposes of compliance with the time limitations in this section, the calculation of the length of a person in custody’s de-escalation confinement shall begin immediately following the incident precipitating such person’s placement in such confinement until the individual is transported to a newly assigned housing area. This shall include the time the person spends in any other subsequent de-escalation confinement cell or area prior to rehousing.
(l) The Department shall maintain an updated list of the specific areas designated to be used for de-escalation purposes at each facility. The Department shall share this list with the Board and update the Board as soon as changes are made.
(m) The Department shall provide the Board with a quarterly public report with information related to its use of de-escalation confinement for each month in the reporting period, including but not limited to (1) the number of placements in de-escalation confinement, overall and by reason for placement, (2) the number whose placement lasted more than two hours, (3) the number whose placement lasted four hours, (4) the minimum, maximum, mean, and median time spent in de-escalation confinement, overall and by reason for placement, (5) the facility and locations of any units used for de-escalation confinement, and (6) any other information the Department or the Board deems relevant to the Board’s assessment of the use of de-escalation confinement in Department facilities. Metrics in the public report shall be reported in total and by facility, and disaggregated by month. The data used to produce the report shall be tracked at the individual placement level and provided to the Board in a manner that may be analyzed electronically by the Board.
(n) The Board and the Department shall jointly develop the reporting templates for the report required by 40 RCNY § 6-05(m), for approval by the Board.
(o) The Department shall comply with the reporting requirements set forth in § 9-167 of the Administrative Code.
(Added City Record 6/9/2021, eff. 7/9/2021; amended City Record 6/28/2024, eff. 7/28/2024)