Access to records and institutions

§ 259-k. Access to records and institutions. 1. All case files shall\nbe maintained by the department for use by the department and board. The\ndepartment and board and authorized officers and employees thereof shall\nhave complete access to such files and the board of parole shall have\nthe right to make such entries as the board of parole shall deem\nappropriate in accordance with law.\n 2. The board shall make rules for the purpose of maintaining the\nconfidentiality of records, information contained therein and\ninformation obtained in an official capacity by officers, employees or\nmembers of the board of parole.\n 3. Members of the board and officers and employees of the department\nproviding community supervision services and designated by the\ncommissioner shall have free access to all incarcerated individuals\nconfined in institutions under the jurisdiction of the department, the\noffice of children and family services and the department of mental\nhygiene in order to enable them to perform their functions, provided,\nhowever, that the department of mental hygiene may temporarily restrict\nsuch access where it determines, for significant clinical reasons, that\nsuch access would interfere with its care and treatment of the mentally\nill incarcerated individual. If under the provisions of this subdivision\nan incarcerated individual is not accessible for release consideration\nby the board, that incarcerated individual shall be scheduled to see the\nboard in the month immediately subsequent to the month within which he\nor she was not available.\n 4. Upon a determination by the department and board of parole that\nrecords regarding an individual presently under the supervision of the\ndepartment are relevant to an investigation of child abuse or\nmaltreatment conducted by a child protective service pursuant to title\nsix of article six of the social services law, the department and board\nshall provide the records determined to be relevant to the child\nprotective service conducting the investigation. The department and\nboard shall promulgate rules for the transmission of records required to\nbe provided under this section.\n