Section 71. Persons received into the custody of the department

1.  * Persons  committed  to  the  custody  of the department under an
  indeterminate or determinate sentence of imprisonment shall be delivered
  to correctional facilities designated as reception centers in the  rules
  and  regulations  of  the department. The commissioner may designate any
  correctional facility as a reception center  subject,  however,  to  the
  following criteria:
    * NB Effective until September 1, 2011
    1.  * Persons  committed  to  the  custody  of the department under an
  indeterminate  or  a  reformatory  sentence  of  imprisonment  shall  be
  delivered  to correctional facilities designated as reception centers in
  the rules and  regulations  of  the  department.  The  commissioner  may
  designate  any  correctional  facility  as  a  reception center subject,
  however, to the following criteria:
    * NB Effective September 1, 2011
    (a) Males and females shall not be received at the  same  correctional
  facility;
    (b)  Males under the age of twenty-one at the time sentence is imposed
  shall not be received at the same correctional facility as males who are
  twenty-one or over at the time sentence is imposed.
    1-a. The commissioner  shall  ensure  that  each  general  confinement
  facility law library has information on international offender transfers
  sufficient  to  inform those persons who are citizens of a treaty nation
  of the existence of such treaties and of the means by which such persons
  may initiate a request for return to the person's country of citizenship
  for service of the sentence  imposed.  Such  law  libraries  shall  also
  contain the most recent annual Amnesty International Report published by
  Amnesty  International  describing  the  conditions  of  prisons in each
  treaty nation and, to the extent practicable, other materials describing
  such prison conditions published by the United  Nations,  United  States
  Department  of  State or human rights organizations. In addition, to the
  extent practicable, such law libraries shall contain information  either
  listing each foreign country's provisions for the reduction of the terms
  of confinement for penal sentences as well as the availability of inmate
  programs  or,  shall  contain  a  list of officials in the United States
  Department of Justice or the embassy of the foreign country to  whom  an
  inmate  may  write  for  information.  To  the extent practicable, newly
  received inmates who are  identified  as  foreign  nationals  of  treaty
  nations  shall,  as  part  of  the  reception process, be advised of the
  existence of such treaties and the possibility of the  initiation  of  a
  transfer request.
    1-b.  The  commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations setting
  forth the procedures by which an inmate may apply to be  considered  for
  transfer  to  a foreign nation. The commissioner, or his designee, shall
  retain sole and absolute authority to approve or disapprove an  inmate's
  application  for  transfer.  Nothing herein shall be construed to confer
  upon an inmate a  right  to  be  a  transferred  to  a  foreign  nation.
  Notwithstanding  any  other  law, rule or regulation to the contrary, no
  inmate application for transfer shall be processed unless the inmate has
  first indicated his  willingness  and  desire  in  writing,  on  a  form
  prescribed  by  the  commissioner,  to be considered for transfer to the
  foreign nation. Such form shall also contain a copy of the inmate's most
  recent legal date computation printout indicating the term or  aggregate
  term  of the sentence originally imposed and the release dates resulting
  therefrom. If a request for transfer is approved by the commissioner  or
  his  designee,  facility  staff  shall  assist  in  the  preparation and
  submission of all  materials  and  forms  necessary  to  effectuate  the
  person's request for transfer to the United States Department of Justice

  for   purposes  of  finalization  of  the  transfer  process,  including
  verification proceedings before a United States  District  Court  Judge,
  United  States  magistrate  or other appointed United States official to
  assure and document the inmate's voluntary request for transfer.
    1-c.  For  purposes  of this section, the term "treaty nation" means a
  foreign country under treaty that provides for the voluntary transfer of
  persons on  the  execution  of  penal  sentences  entered  into  by  the
  government of the United States with foreign countries.
    2.  Persons  returned  to  the  custody of the department as parole or
  conditional  release  violators  shall  be  delivered  to   institutions
  designated in the rules and regulations of the department.
    3.  Persons  who are committed, transferred, certified to or placed in
  the care or custody of the department  as  mental  defectives  shall  be
  delivered  to  a special institution maintained for the care, treatment,
  training and custody of mental defectives  in  accordance  with  article
  seventeen of this chapter.
    4.  Persons  who are committed, transferred, certified to or placed in
  the care or custody of  the  department  while  mentally  ill  shall  be
  delivered  to  a  special institution maintained for the care, treatment
  and custody of the mentally ill in accordance with  article  sixteen  of
  this chapter.
    5.  The commissioner of correction shall file copies of written orders
  with the clerk of each court having jurisdiction to  commit  persons  to
  the  custody  of  the  department  designating the institutions to which
  persons committed by such court shall be delivered. Such orders  may  be
  amended  or  superseded  by  the  commissioner from time to time and any
  change shall become effective immediately upon receipt by the  clerk  of
  the court.
    6.  A  commitment to a specified institution in the department, rather
  than to the custody of the department,  which  is  valid  in  all  other
  respects  shall  not  be  void  for  such  reason  but shall be deemed a
  commitment to the custody of the department and the person so  committed
  shall  be  conveyed  to  the  proper  institution  as prescribed by this
  section.
    7.  Whenever  the  department  receives  information  that  a   person
  committed  to  the  department  is  a  social  services  recipient and a
  certificate of conviction and the term of the sentence imposed  has  not
  previously   been  delivered  by  the  sentencing  court  to  the  local
  commissioner of social  services  pursuant  to  section  380.80  of  the
  criminal  procedure law, the department shall deliver the certificate of
  conviction and provide notification  of  the  sentence  imposed  to  the
  commissioner  of  social  services.  Such commissioner shall deliver the
  certificate of conviction and  the  term  of  sentence  imposed  to  the
  appropriate local commissioner of social services.