Included in this dataset: Records of unusual incidents at DOCCS facilities starting January 2014. As defined in DOCCS Directive 4004, an unusual incident is “a serious occurrence that (1) may impact upon or disrupt facility operations, or (2) has the potential for affecting the Department’s public image, or (3) might arouse widespread public interest.”

These include incidents such as assaults, staff use of weapons, contraband, deaths, disruptive behavior, accidents, escapes, self-inflicted injuries, and suicide attempts. “In general,” Directive 4004 states, “any incident shall be reportable under the provisions of this directive which (1) satisfies the definition (above) of ‘unusual incident,’ or (2) involves use of chemical agents, or (3) involves staff use of a weapon, or (4) results in moderate or serious injury to any incarcerated individual/releasee or staff.” A complete list of unusual incident categories and their reporting requirements can be found in Appendix A of Directive 4004.

There are two primary considerations to keep in mind when using this dataset. First, the number of incidents in the data does not align exactly with the unusual incident numbers DOCCS maintains internally and publishes in its annual reports. This may be because some incidents in the data CANY receives through FOIL are redacted, and some incidents may not have been approved or finalized by the time CANY’s request for data has been processed each quarter. For example, DOCCS’ 2023 Annual Unusual Incident Report indicates that there were 16,060 unusual incidents in 2023. This data shows 16,048 incidents in 2023, a difference of less than 0.01%.

Second, the incidents in this data may not align with incidents reported by other agencies due to differences in reporting requirements and practices. For example, some differences exist between the number of deaths reported by the State Commission of Correction (SCOC) and those reported by DOCCS as unusual incidents.  

Additional considerations for using this data are detailed in the “Limitations and Guidelines” section below.

How this data is generated: Per Directive 4004, incidents are reported by facility staff via telephone to the DOCCS Communications Control Center (CCC) and documented in a computerized Unusual Incident Reporting System. Directive 4004 and the Unusual Incident Reporting Manual provide guidelines on reporting timeframes and content to include in the reports, which require narrative entries on the incident at hand and relevant supporting documents.

Each report can include more than one incident that occurs as part of an event; these co-occurring incidents can be identified by using the facility log number, CCC number, and incident datetime fields in the processed data. For examples of the reports CANY obtains through FOIL, view the source data here.

Limitations and guidelines for use:  As noted above, the two major limitations of this dataset are (1) the potential undercount of incidents compared with unusual incident data maintained by DOCCS and (2) reporting policies and practices for unusual incidents that can lead to different incident counts when compared to records maintained in other DOCCS datasets or by other agencies.

Within the dataset, changes in the volume of reported incidents may reflect either a change in reporting policy or practice or a change in actual incident levels. For example, DOCCS changed its reporting policy regarding contraband incidents in August 2021 so that drug contraband was no longer recorded as an unusual incident until after confirmatory analysis by an outside laboratory. Following the implementation of this policy, there was a substantial decrease in the number of reported contraband incidents, but it is difficult to be certain how much of this decrease was due to a change in reporting policy as opposed to a reduction in the amount of contraband detected by the department.

There are also some incident codes that exist only in more recent data. For example, there are no incidents of Narcan use in the dataset before 2019, but Narcan has been used at DOCCS facilities under a statewide standing order since at least 2015. These earlier incidents of Narcan use were not recorded as unusual incidents, possibly due to different reporting requirements at the time.

Staff use of force during an incident can be documented in three ways: through a report-level "use of force" indicator, an incident-level “force” indicator, or a “staff use of weapons” incident co-occurring with the incident at hand. The report- and incident-level force indicators include all types of staff force used, regardless of whether a weapon was used, and as such may provide a more comprehensive understanding of staff use of force than the “staff use of weapons” incidents shown on the dashboard. Comparisons between the three indicator types can be made using the corresponding fields in the processed data available for download here.

Unusual incidents for Central Office or Community Supervision are not shown on the dashboard but are included in the source and processed data.

Why we’re publishing this data: This data provides the public with insight into incidents that occur within correctional facilities that fall outside of normal operations, along with their frequency. The information can be particularly valuable for identifying patterns or changes over time, whether across different facilities or within a single facility.

Expected update frequency: Approximately every three months, dependent on FOIL response

Related data, research, and analysis:

• DOCCS 2023 Unusual Incident Report: An annual report on unusual incidents, which includes an analysis of incident data from the past ten years. Note that there may be small discrepancies between CANY’s data and the data in these reports, as described above.

• DOCCS 2023 Prison Violence Task Force Report: The final report from a departmental task force convened by DOCCS between December 2021 and April 2023 to address prison violence. Includes an analysis of factors pertaining to violence at facilities and recommendations made in response to the findings.

• NYS Inspector General Report on DOCCS Contraband Drug Testing Program:  A report on DOCCS’ contraband drug testing protocols that provides context for the contraband reporting policy change in August 2021.

For recommendations reflecting trends in administrative data, read CANY’s Policy Agenda and Departmental Recommendations. For findings from monitoring visits, including survey and interview data from incarcerated individuals, read CANY’s Post-Visit Briefings.