Section 401-A. Oversight responsibilities of the New York state commission on quality of care and advocacy for persons with disabilities

1.  The  New  York  state  commission on quality of care and advocacy for persons
  with disabilities ("commission") shall be responsible for monitoring the
  quality of mental health care provided to inmates  pursuant  to  article
  forty-five  of  the mental hygiene law. The commission shall have direct
  and immediate access to all areas where state prisoners are housed,  and
  to  clinical  and  department  records  relating  to  inmates'  clinical
  conditions. The commission shall maintain  the  confidentiality  of  all
  patient-specific information.
    * 2.  The  commission shall monitor the quality of care in residential
  mental health  treatment  programs  and  shall  ensure  compliance  with
  paragraphs  (d)  and  (e)  of  subdivision  six  of  section one hundred
  thirty-seven of this chapter  and  section  four  hundred  one  of  this
  article.  The  commission may recommend to the department and the office
  of mental health that inmates  in  segregated  confinement  pursuant  to
  subdivision  six  of section one hundred thirty-seven of this chapter be
  evaluated for placement in a residential mental health  treatment  unit.
  It may also recommend ways to further the goal of diverting and removing
  inmates  with  serious  mental  illness  from  segregated confinement to
  residential mental health treatment units. The commission shall  include
  in  its  annual  report  to the governor and the legislature pursuant to
  subdivision  (g)  of  section  45.07  of  the  mental  hygiene  law,   a
  description  of  the  state's  progress  in complying with this article,
  which shall be publicly available.
    * NB  Effective  2  years  after  notification  from  commissioner  of
  correctional  services  or July 1, 2011 pursuant to §8 ù(a) of chapter 1
  of the laws of 2008
    * 3. The commission shall appoint an advisory committee on psychiatric
  correctional care ("committee"), which shall be composed of  independent
  mental  health  experts  and  mental  health  advocates, and may include
  family members of former  inmates  with  serious  mental  illness.  Such
  committee  shall advise the commission on its oversight responsibilities
  pursuant to this section and article forty-five of  the  mental  hygiene
  law.  The  committee  may  also  make  recommendations to the commission
  regarding improvements to prison-based mental health  care.  Nothing  in
  this  subdivision  shall be deemed to authorize members of the committee
  to have access to a correctional or mental hygiene facility or any  part
  of  such  a  facility. Provided, however, newly appointed members of the
  advisory committee shall  be  provided  with  a  tour  of  a  segregated
  confinement  unit  and  a  residential  mental health treatment unit, as
  selected by the commissioner. Any such tour shall be arranged on a  date
  and  at  a  time  selected  by  the commissioner and upon such terms and
  conditions as are within the sole discretion of the commissioner.
    * NB  Effective  2  years  after  notification  from  commissioner  of
  correctional  services  or July 1, 2011 pursuant to §8 ù(a) of chapter 1
  of the laws of 2008