NYCHS presents Page 5 of the 19 original text pages of the Board of Correction's first publication (1978) of Minimum Standards for New York City Correctional Facilities.

Page 5 of 19 text pages.

(e) All items of clothing and bedding stored within the institution shall be maintained in a safe and sanitary manner.

Section 4.10 Housing Areas
(a) Prisoners shall be provided at Department expense with a supply of brooms, mops, soap powder, disinfectant, and other materials sufficient to properly clean and maintain housing areas.

(b) The Department shall develop a plan for the regular cleaning of all housing areas, including cells, tiers, dayrooms and windows, and for the extermination of rodents and vermin in all housing areas. Such plans shall be submitted to the Board within 90 days of the effective date of this standard.
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(c) All housing areas shall contain at least the following facilities in sufficient supply to meet reasonable standards of prisoner personal hygiene:

  1. sink with hot and cold water:
  2. flush toilet; and
  3. shower with hot and cold water.

Section 4.11 Effective Date

This Part shall take effect May 1, 1978.

PART 5 -- OVERCROWDING

Section
5.1 Policy
5.2 Single Occupancy
5.3 Multiple Occupancy
5.4 Effective Date

Section 5.1 Policy
Prisoners shall not be housed in cells, rooms or dormitories unless adequate space and furnishings are provided.

Section 5.2 Single Occupancy
(a) A cell or room designed or rated for single occupancy shall house only one prisoner.

(b) Each single cell shall contain a flush toilet, a wash basin with drinking water and, at a minimum, the following furniture:

(c) A single-cell housing area shall contain table or desk space for each occupant that is available for use at least 12 hours per day.

Section 5.3 Multiple Occupancy
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(a) A multiple occupancy area shall contain a single bed for each occupant, a locker or drawer that can be closed for each occupant, and by September 1, 1978, table or desk space for each occupant that is available for use at least 12 hours per day.

(b) Multiple-occupancy areas for detainees shall provide a minimum of 75 square feet of floor space per person in the sleeping area.

Section 5.4 Effective Date
This Part shall take effect May 1, 1978.

PART 6 -- LOCK-IN

Section
6.1 Policy
6.2 Involuntary Lock-In
6.3 Optional Lock-In
6.4 Schedule
6.5 Effective Date

Section 6.1 Policy
Page 5 of 1978 Minimum Standards.

Above is an image of Page 5 of the first publication (1978) of the Minimum Standards for New York City Correctional Facilities issued by the NYC Board of Correction, as given to NYCHS by former NYC DOC photographer Mark Mellett. NYCHS appreciates this and other archival material Mark Mellett has generously donated.

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Left is another image of Page 5 of the first publication (1978) of the Minimum Standards. Click on it to access an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) downloadable and printable scanned copy (786 Kb) of the original Page 5.

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The time spent by prisoners confined to their cells should be kept to a minimum and required only when necessary for the safety and security of the institution.

Section 6.2 Involuntary Lock-In
(a) No prisoner shall be required to remain confined to his or her cell except for the following purposes:

  1. At night for count or sleep, not to exceed eight hours in any 24-hour period;
  2. During the day for count or required institutional business that can only be carried out while prisoners are locked in, not to exceed two hours in any 24-hour period. This time may be extended if necessary to complete an off count.
  3. Within 60 days of the effective date of this standard, the Department shall submit to the Board its list of institutions, if any, that require more than two hours of lock-in during the day because of unique problems. Pursuant to Part 16, the Board shall determine if any variance from the requirement of Section 6.2(ii) is necessary.

Section 6.3 Optional Lock-In
Prisoners shall have the option of being locked in their cells during lock-out periods. Prisoners choosing to lock in at the beginning of a lock-out period of two hours or more, shall be

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NYC Board
of
Correction
Origins
NYC Board
of
Correction's
1st Report
NYC Board
of
Correction's
2nd Report
Bd. of
Correction
Comments to
Bd. of Estimate
1988:
Rose M.
Singer & Her
Rikers Jail


NY State Commission of Correction's current statewide
Minimum Standards for County Jails and Penitentiaries
and Minimum Standards for Police Lockups. Both PDFs.

Although the text of the 1978 NYC Board of Correction Minimum Standards for New York City Correctional Facilities is in the public domain, the other texts in this NYCHS presentation are not.
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They are copyrighted by the New York Correction History Society, with all rights reserved, either solely (such as image captions and various notes) or jointly with the respective identified authors.

NYCHS appreciates the board and board staff's cooperation and assistance during the presentation's preparation.

Although lacking the special features of this 2004 web presentation, an extremely large -- 20 Megabytes -- Adobe Acrobat PDF file of the 1978 booklet text is available.