NCJ Number
141472
Journal
Large Jail Network Bulletin Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 11-12
Date Published
1990
Length
2 pages
Annotation
To promote impartiality in inmate disciplinary hearings, New York City has full-time hearing officers who conduct hearings by rotating from one facility to another every 20 working days ("riding the circuit").
Abstract
Trained, full-time hearing officers offer several advantages over hearing board members drawn on a rotating basis from regular facility uniformed and civilian staff. There is greater expertise in conducting hearings, gained, in part, from introductory and ongoing training; more efficient use of staff time by having a single staff member replace 3-member committees; improved written decisions that will be upheld by a reviewing court; and the creation of a professional core of impartial hearing officers. The hearing officers of the adjudication unit are all members of the uniformed force who have volunteered for the assignment. They are veteran first-line supervisors with many years of facility experience as officers and supervisors. The officers conduct all business wearing civilian clothes, to be distinguished from facility staff. The hearing officers report directly to the corrections department's general counsel rather than to the head of the facility to which they are assigned. This arrangement helps to insulate their decisions from influence by facility administrators and helps prevent them from identifying with facility staff. The New York City Department of Correction's size and the proximity of its correctional facilities to one another lends itself to the "circuit-riding" arrangement.