In response to falling crime rates and declining prison populations in New York State, the department has closed many facilities since 2009.

[7] Between 2011 and 2022 nearly 20 prisons were closed, with plans for additional facility closures based on the continued decline in the number of incarcerated individuals in the state.

All three were designed on progressive principles, reflected a concern for aesthetics and a sense of place, and had no surrounding walls or fences.

DOCCS does not publish statistics on gender diversity other than by facility designation as "male" and "female," so the proportion who are transgender or non-binary is not known.

[23] Recently, NYS DOCCS has revised policies to reflect transgender and nonbinary people's gender identities.

In January 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul directed the prison administrators to let transgender people choose to be housed in a men's or women's facility, and to give access to appropriate medical and mental health care.

[24] In 2019, DOCCS granted the first transfer for a transgender woman to move from a men's to a women's prison prior to gender-reassignment surgery.

[27][28] As is true in the United States generally, New York incarcerates people at different rates when examined using gender and racial/ethnic categories.

As of 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's categorization system, about 48% of incarcerated individuals were Black or African American; 25% White; 25% Hispanic; and a small number belonging to other categories.

[34] By design, inmates are moved with some frequency between prisons, based on the belief that inmate–staff friendships that might lead, for example, to drug smuggling by staff.

At Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum security women's prison, the August Rebellion led to greater protection of the rights of incarcerated people in the United States.

A prisoner lawsuit about 2010[citation needed] dramatically reduced the very high charges per minute by the telephone service provider.

At some medium-security prisons, facilities for conjugal visits are available for carefully selected inmates, including same-sex married couples.

They typically take place in trailers within the prison grounds, and some spouses bring children along, so sex offenders are not eligible for conjugal visits.

[citation needed] Each prisoner is assigned a staff member ("counselor") who assists inmates in navigating the complicated institutional and external program rules.

[40] Capital punishment was banned following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling declaring existing capital punishment statutes unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia (1972), but was reinstated in New York in 1995 when Governor George Pataki signed a new statute into law, which provided for execution by lethal injection.

[43] As COVID-19 cases surged in fall 2021, DOCCS imposed a requirement that visitors show proof of vaccination or a negative test result.

Since 1861, 28 New York state correction officers have died as a result of violence in the line of duty or a duty-related illness (e.g., tuberculosis).

[47] The majority of the deaths were caused by gunfire from law enforcement: ten state workers and twenty-nine incarcerated men were fatally shot.

There are physical qualification standards for becoming a corrections officer; the trainees must be able to perform seven sequential job-related tasks in two minutes and fifteen seconds or less.

Failure in any of the tasks results in the recruit failing to meet the agency qualification standards and, accordingly, being dismissed from the academy.

From highest to lowest title, the command structure for correction officers and their civilian administrators is as follows: New York State Division of Parole are law enforcement officers within the department who aid, assist and supervise offenders released from correctional facilities to serve a period of post-release supervision.

Parole Officers are responsible for providing public safety and community protection, while working with community-based organizations to deliver needed services and supervision to releasees.