Section 508. Juvenile offender facilities

1.  The office of children and
  family services shall  maintain  secure  facilities  for  the  care  and
  confinement  of  juvenile  offenders  committed  for  an  indeterminate,
  determinate or definite sentence pursuant to the  sentencing  provisions
  of  the penal law. Such facilities shall provide appropriate services to
  juvenile offenders  including  but  not  limited  to  residential  care,
  educational   and   vocational  training,  physical  and  mental  health
  services, and employment counseling.
    2. Juvenile offenders shall be confined in such facilities  until  the
  age  of  twenty-one  and  shall not be released, discharged or permitted
  home visits except pursuant to the provisions of this section.
    * (a) The director  of  the  division  for  youth  may  authorize  the
  transfer  of  a juvenile offender in his custody, who has been convicted
  of burglary or robbery, to a school or center established  and  operated
  pursuant  to  title three of this article at any time after the juvenile
  offender has been confined in a division for youth secure  facility  for
  one year or one-half of his minimum sentence, whichever is greater.
    * NB Expired September 1, 1992
    * (b)  The  director  of  the  division  for  youth  may authorize the
  transfer of a juvenile offender in his custody, who has  been  convicted
  of  burglary  or  robbery,  and  who is within ninety days of release as
  established by the board of parole,  to  any  facility  established  and
  operated pursuant to this article.
    * NB Expired September 1, 1992
    * (c) A juvenile offender may be transferred as provided in paragraphs
  (a)  and (b) herein, only after the director determines that there is no
  danger to public  safety  and  that  the  offender  shall  substantially
  benefit  from the programs and services of another division facility. In
  determining whether there is a danger  to  public  safety  the  director
  shall  consider:  (i)  the  nature  and  circumstances  of  the  offense
  including whether any physical injury  involved  was  inflicted  by  the
  offender  or  another participant; (ii) the record and background of the
  offender;  and  (iii)  the  adjustment  of  the  offender  at   division
  facilities.
    * NB Expired September 1, 1992
    * (d)  For  a  period of six months after a juvenile offender has been
  transferred pursuant to  paragraph  (a)  or  (b)  herein,  the  juvenile
  offender  may  have  only  accompanied home visits. After completing six
  months of confinement following  transfer  from  a  secure  facility,  a
  juvenile  offender  may  not have an unaccompanied home visit unless two
  accompanied home visits have  already  occurred.  An  "accompanied  home
  visit"  shall mean a home visit during which the juvenile offender shall
  be accompanied at all times while outside the  facility  by  appropriate
  personnel  of  the division for youth designated pursuant to regulations
  of the director of the division.
    * NB Expired September 1, 1992
    * (e) The director of the division for youth  shall  promulgate  rules
  and regulations including uniform standards and procedures governing the
  transfer   of   juvenile  offenders  from  secure  facilities  to  other
  facilities and the return of such offenders to  secure  facilities.  The
  rules  and  regulations  shall  provide  a procedure for the referral of
  proposed transfer cases by  the  secure  facility  director,  and  shall
  require  a  determination  by  the  facility director that transfer of a
  juvenile offender to another facility is in the best  interests  of  the
  division for youth and the juvenile offender and that there is no danger
  to public safety.
    The  rules and regulations shall further provide for the establishment
  of a division central office transfer committee to review transfer cases

  referred by the secure facility directors. The committee shall recommend
  approval of a transfer request to the director of the division only upon
  a clear showing by the secure facility director that the transfer is  in
  the  best  interests of the division for youth and the juvenile offender
  and that there is no danger to public safety. In the case of the  denial
  of the transfer request by the transfer committee, the juvenile offender
  shall  remain  at  a secure facility. Notwithstanding the recommendation
  for approval of transfer by the transfer committee, the director of  the
  division  may  deny  the  request  for  transfer if there is a danger to
  public safety or if the transfer is not in the  best  interests  of  the
  division for youth or the juvenile offender.
    The  rules  and  regulations shall further provide a procedure for the
  immediate return to a secure facility, without a hearing, of a  juvenile
  offender  transferred  to  another facility upon a determination by that
  facility director that there is a danger to public safety.
    * NB Expired September 1, 1992
    3. The division shall report in writing to the  sentencing  court  and
  district attorney, not less than once every six months during the period
  of  confinement, on the status, adjustment, programs and progress of the
  offender.
    4. The division for youth  may  apply  to  the  sentencing  court  for
  permission  to  transfer  a  youth  not  less than sixteen nor more than
  eighteen years of age to the department of correctional  services.  Such
  application  shall  be  made  upon  notice  to  the  youth, who shall be
  entitled to be heard upon the  application  and  to  be  represented  by
  counsel  or law guardian. The court shall grant the application if it is
  satisfied that there is no substantial likelihood that  the  youth  will
  benefit from the programs offered by the division facilities.
    5.  The  division  for  youth  may  transfer an offender not less than
  eighteen nor more than twenty-one years of  age  to  the  department  of
  correctional  services  if the director of the division certifies to the
  commissioner of correctional  services  that  there  is  no  substantial
  likelihood  that  the  youth  will  benefit from the programs offered by
  division facilities.
    6. At age twenty-one, all juvenile offenders shall be  transferred  to
  the  custody  of the department of correctional services for confinement
  pursuant to the correction law.
    7. While in the custody of the division for youth, an  offender  shall
  be  subject to the rules and regulations of the division except that his
  parole, temporary release and discharge shall be governed  by  the  laws
  applicable  to inmates of state correctional facilities and his transfer
  to state hospitals in the office of mental health shall be  governed  by
  section  five  hundred  seventeen  of  this chapter. The director of the
  division for youth  shall,  however,  establish  and  operate  temporary
  release  programs at division for youth facilities for eligible juvenile
  offenders and contract with the division of parole for the provision  of
  parole  supervision  services  for  temporary  releasees.  The rules and
  regulations for these programs shall not be inconsistent with  the  laws
  for  temporary  release  applicable  to  inmates  of  state correctional
  facilities. For the purposes of temporary release programs for  juvenile
  offenders only, when referred to or defined in article twenty-six of the
  correction  law, "institution" shall mean any facility designated by the
  director of the division for youth, "department" shall mean the division
  for youth, "inmate"  shall  mean  a  juvenile  offender  residing  in  a
  division  for youth facility, and "commissioner" shall mean the director
  of the division for youth. Time spent in division for  youth  facilities
  and  in  juvenile  detention  facilities  shall  be credited towards the

  sentence imposed in the same manner and to the same extent applicable to
  inmates of state correctional facilities.
    8.  Whenever  a juvenile offender or a juvenile offender adjudicated a
  youthful offender shall be delivered to the director of a  division  for
  youth  facility pursuant to a commitment to the director of the division
  for youth, the officer so delivering such person shall deliver  to  such
  facility  director  a  certified  copy  of the sentence received by such
  officer from the clerk of the court by which such person shall have been
  sentenced, a copy of the report of the probation officer's investigation
  and report, any other pre-sentence memoranda filed  with  the  court,  a
  copy  of  the  person's  fingerprint  records,  a  detailed  summary  of
  available medical records, psychiatric records and reports  relating  to
  assaults,  or  other  violent acts, attempts at suicide or escape by the
  person while in the custody of a local detention facility.
    9. Notwithstanding  any  provision  of  law,  including  section  five
  hundred  one-c  of  this  article,  the  office  of  children and family
  services shall make records pertaining to a person convicted  of  a  sex
  offense  as  defined  in  subdivision (p) of section 10.03 of the mental
  hygiene law available upon request to the commissioner of mental  health
  or   the   commissioner   of   mental   retardation   and  developmental
  disabilities, as appropriate; a case  review  panel;  and  the  attorney
  general;  in accordance with the provisions of article ten of the mental
  hygiene law.