§ 7 — Organization of department of corrections and community supervision; officers and employees; delegation by commissioner

§ 7. Organization of department of corrections and community\nsupervision; officers and employees; delegation by commissioner. 1. The\ncommissioner of corrections and community supervision may, from time to\ntime, create, abolish, transfer and consolidate divisions, bureaus and\nother units within the department not expressly established by law as he\nor she may determine necessary for the efficient operation of the\ndepartment, subject to the approval of the director of the budget.\n 2. The commissioner of corrections and community supervision may\nappoint such deputies, directors, assistants and other officers and\nemployees as may be needed for the performance of his or her duties and\nmay prescribe their powers and duties and fix their compensation within\nthe amounts appropriated therefor.\n 3. The commissioner may by order filed in the department of\ncorrections and community supervision delegate any of his or her powers\nto or direct any of his or her duties to be performed by a deputy\ncommissioner or a head of a division or bureau of such department.\n 4. (a) The commissioner shall not appoint any person as a correction\nofficer or parole officer, unless such person has attained their\ntwenty-first birthday, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this\nsubdivision.\n (b)(i) The commissioner may appoint a person as a correction officer\nafter such person has attained their eighteenth birthday but before such\nperson has attained their twenty-first birthday if such person has taken\nthe civil service examination to become a correction officer on or\nbefore the sixtieth day following the day the commissioner first reports\na staffing capacity of ninety percent or more after the effective date\nof this paragraph. This subparagraph shall not be construed to prevent\nany person appointed pursuant to this paragraph from continuing to serve\nas a correction officer after such date, subject to the restrictions in\nsubparagraph (ii) of this paragraph.\n (ii) A person serving as a correction officer prior to their\ntwenty-first birthday shall not:\n (1) obtain or use a firearm as a peace officer or as any part of their\nemployment duties;\n (2) conduct outside transport of incarcerated individuals, perform\nwall tower and arsenal duties, or any other role that requires a\nfirearm;\n (3) perform contact roles with incarcerated individuals without\nsupervision in their first eighteen months of service as a correction\nofficer;\n (4) provide outside hospital coverage; or\n (5) supervise outside work crews or community crews.\n (iii) The department shall provide enhanced training and mentorship\nprograms for correction officers under the age of twenty-one.\n (iv) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to interfere with or\nconflict with the collective bargaining agreement with respect to the\nprocess of bidding on posts, provided that no correction officer may bid\non a post for which they are not eligible pursuant to subparagraph (ii)\nof this paragraph.\n (c) Within ninety days of the effective date of this paragraph and\nquarterly thereafter until the commissioner reports a staffing capacity\nof ninety percent or more, the commissioner shall review department\nstaffing levels and report the department's staffing capacity to the\ngovernor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the\nassembly, the minority leader of the senate, and the minority leader of\nthe assembly and shall post such report on its website.\n