Mental Hygiene Law § 33.05 · Article 33. Rights of Patients
Communications and visits
Text — Law content up to date as of June 26, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 33.05 Communications and visits.
(a) Each patient in a facility shall have the right to communicate freely and privately with persons outside the facility as frequently as he wishes, subject to regulations of the commissioner designed to assure the safety and welfare of patients and to avoid serious harassment to others. Correspondence addressed to public officials, attorneys, clergymen, and to the mental hygiene legal service shall be unrestricted and shall be sent along promptly without being opened.
(b) The commissioner by regulation shall establish guidelines to insure that patients at facilities have full opportunity for conducting correspondence, have reasonable access to telephones, and have frequent and convenient opportunities to meet with visitors.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of June 26, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/MHY33.05
- Text hash
- sha256 775e375b57bc3515d020673f0cc3602cd79bea1f84288ffe444ed48a7636b92c
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.