Section 622. Sex offender treatment program

1. The department shall make
  available a sex offender treatment program for  those  inmates  who  are
  serving sentences for felony sex offenses, or for other offenses defined
  in  subdivision  (p) of section 10.03 of the mental hygiene law, and are
  identified as having a need for such program in accordance with sections
  eight  hundred  three  and  eight  hundred  five  of  this  chapter.  In
  developing  the  treatment program, the department shall give due regard
  to standards, guidelines, best practices, and qualifications recommended
  by the office of sex offender management. The department shall make such
  treatment programs available sufficiently in advance of the time of  the
  inmate's  consideration  by  the  case  review team, pursuant to section
  10.05 of the mental hygiene law, so as to allow the inmate  to  complete
  the treatment program prior to that time.
    2.  The  primary  purpose  of  the  program  shall  be  to  reduce the
  likelihood of reoffending by assisting such offenders to  control  their
  chain  of  behaviors  that  lead  to  sexual  offending.  The  length of
  participation for each inmate to achieve successful completion shall  be
  dependent upon the initial assessment of the inmate's specific needs and
  the degree of progress made by the inmate as a participant but shall not
  be less than six months.
    3.  The  department's  sex  offender  treatment  program shall include
  residential programs, which shall  require  that  at  each  correctional
  facility  where the residential program is provided, inmate participants
  shall be housed within  the  same  housing  area  in  order  to  provide
  clinically  appropriate  treatment, and to provide a more structured and
  controlled setting.
    4.  Each  residential  program  shall  be  staffed  with  a   licensed
  psychologist  who  shall  provide  clinical supervision to the treatment
  staff, review, approve and modify treatment  plans  as  appropriate  for
  individual  inmates,  provide  clinical  assessments  for  participating
  inmates, observe and participate in group sessions  and  make  treatment
  recommendations.  Each  residential program shall also be staffed with a
  licensed clinical social worker or other mental health professional  who
  shall  be  knowledgeable about the administration of testing instruments
  that are designed to measure the degree of a sex offender's  psychopathy
  and  his  or her program needs. The assigned licensed psychologist shall
  also be knowledgeable about the application of such testing instruments.
    5. Any inmate committed to the custody of the department on  or  after
  the  effective date of this section for a felony sex offense, or for any
  of the other offenses listed in subdivision (p) of section 10.03 of  the
  mental hygiene law, shall, as soon as practicable, be initially assessed
  by  staff  of  the  office  of  mental health who shall be knowledgeable
  regarding the diagnosis, treatment,  assessment  or  evaluation  of  sex
  offenders.  The  assessment  shall  include,  but not be limited to, the
  determination of the degree to which  the  inmate  presents  a  risk  of
  violent sexual recidivism and his or her need for sex offender treatment
  while in prison.
    6.  Staff  of  the  office  of  mental health and the office of mental
  retardation and developmental disabilities may be  consulted  about  the
  inmate's  treatment  needs  and  may  assist in providing any additional
  treatment services determined to be clinically  appropriate  to  address
  the  inmate's  underlying mental abnormality or disorder. Such treatment
  services shall  be  provided  using  professionally  accepted  treatment
  protocols.