Public Meeting Notice  Restrictive Housing Oversight Committee Meeting

Welcome and Introductions

U/S Peck welcomed Committee members and took attendance (see below).

U/S Peck acknowledged the current state of the DOC facilities and updates to the inmate population services which have seen changes in the delivery of those services since the COVID-19 state of emergency was enacted. There was discussion among members about PPE, out-of-cell time, and other restrictions that were necessary to stop the transmission of COVID-19 in the prison population. Deputy Commissioner Fallon reported that restrictive housing is back to normal in the facilities.

Meeting Minutes

Brandy said the attendance of the February meeting was not listed and asked that it be revised to reflect who was present. A roll call vote was taken to approve the minutes and all present members voted yes.

Report Writing

Sean suggested extending the report publication due to the site visits to the counties were suspended after the COVID-19 outbreak. He proposed early spring. There was some discussion about issuing a preliminary annual report as a baseline and then expanding in subsequent years and do another round of visits after the “new normal” has been imposed. It was decided to add report writing to the July agenda to continue the discussion.

Subcommittees

Bob suggested getting the subcommittee on Evaluating RH in Other States together to re-group. The other subcommittees agreed they will need to meet and re-visit their deliverables from the last meeting.

Full Committee Meetings Going Forward

It was decided to continue to hold meetings remotely and plan to get a July meeting scheduled.

Site Visits

Brandy stated that the Committee should visit the remaining county facilities at some point since the variation has been striking between counties. Deputy Commissioner Fallon said we need to contextualize that the new normal may seem different. U/S Peck stated he will speak to the MSA about future site visits and get their thoughts. U/S Peck said that any questions relating to COVID-19 in county facilities should be sent to Michaela to follow-up.

Public Comment

Mary Valerio stated that the Committee needs to get into the facilities and see the state of things post-COVID as soon as possible. Cassandra Beninsiha thanked the Committee for its work and for re-convening to continue this important work.

Adjourn

There was a motion to adjourn at 12:57pm by Undersecretary Peck and seconded by Marlene Sallo. All voted in favor. The meeting adjourned at 12:57pm.

1. Welcome from Undersecretary Andrew Peck, Chairman
2. Report Writing
3. Subcommittees
4. Full Committee Meetings Going Forward
5. Topics Not Reasonably Anticipated Within 48 Hours
6. Public Comment
7. Adjourn