In 1999, 54 newly sentenced prisoners confined at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York filed lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the New York State Department of Corrections in the New York State Supreme Court. The petitions were consolidated into this case, in which the plaintiffs ...
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In 1999, 54 newly sentenced prisoners confined at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York filed lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the New York State Department of Corrections in the New York State Supreme Court. The petitions were consolidated into this case, in which the plaintiffs asked the court to transfer them to state correctional facilities. The inmates were sentenced to a period of incarceration in a state facility but, pursuant to a contract between it and the city, they were housed at Rikers Island for up to six months. The plaintiffs sought immediate transfer to a state prison because they claimed that in a city facility they were denied benefits afforded to prisoners incarcerated in state facilities.
On January 13, 2000, the New York Supreme Court (Judge Richard Lee Price) held that under the due process clause, the inmates could not be confined to city facilities if such confinement would deny them any of the following: 1) timely parole board reviews, 2) the right to earn merit time sentence reductions, or 3) the right to enroll in the Shock Incarceration Program. Carillo v. Basilone, 705 N.Y.S.2d 165 (N.Y.S. Jan. 13, 2000).
We have no further information on the proceedings in this case.
Kristen Sagar - 10/31/2006
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