Form the Morning Memo:
The Assembly Correction Committee this week will consider a bill that would require state prison officials to place inmates in facilities closest to their children.
The measure would require the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to determine if placing an inmate in a prison closest to their children is within the child’s best interest. DOCCS would be required to submit an annual report on the progress of the implementation of the policy.
The bill, on the panel’s agenda for its Tuesday meeting, is meant to address what criminal justice and child care advocates have said is beneficial to childhood development and can lower recidivism.
“Over 100,000 children in New York State have at least one parent in state prison,” the bill’s sponsor memo states. “At present, a majority of individual s are being housed in facilities that are hours away from their children and families.”
State officials announced on Friday DOCCS will close two prisons, one in Manhattan and another in Livingston County, amid a declining inmate population.