New York Consolidated Laws
N.Y. Penal Law § 240.32 (2026)
Aggravated harassment of an employee by an incarcerated individual
✓ current as of May 2026
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§ 240.32 Aggravated harassment of an employee by an incarcerated
individual.
An incarcerated individual or respondent is guilty of aggravated
harassment of an employee by an incarcerated individual when, with
intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm a person in a facility whom
he or she knows or reasonably should know to be an employee of such
facility or the board of parole or the office of mental health, or a
probation department, bureau or unit or a police officer, he or she
causes or attempts to cause such employee to come into contact with
blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, or the contents of a toilet bowl, by
throwing, tossing or expelling such fluid or material.
For purposes of this section, "incarcerated individual" means an
incarcerated individual or detainee in a correctional facility, local
correctional facility or a hospital, as such term is defined in
subdivision two of section four hundred of the correction law. For
purposes of this section, "respondent" means a juvenile in a secure
facility operated and maintained by the office of children and family
services who is placed with or committed to the office of children and
family services. For purposes of this section, "facility" means a
correctional facility or local correctional facility, hospital, as such
term is defined in subdivision two of section four hundred of the
correction law, or a secure facility operated and maintained by the
office of children and family services.
Aggravated harassment of an employee by an incarcerated individual is
a class E felony.Notes of Decisions
Cited in 50
cases (9 in the last 5 years), 1997–2026 · leading case: People v. Stokes, 744 N.E.2d 1153 (NY 2001).
People v. Stokes, 744 N.E.2d 1153 (NY 2001). “While an inmate at the Southport Correctional Facility, defendant was accused and convicted after trial of aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate in violation of Penal Law § 240.32, a class E felony, for allegedly spraying a mixture of excrement and urine on a…”
People v. Stokes, 290 A.D.2d 71 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002). “Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of aggravated *73 harassment of an employee by an inmate (Penal Law § 240.32) for spraying a liquid substance later determined to be a combination of urine and feces at a correction counselor who was making her rounds at the…”
People v. Maldonado, 273 A.D.2d 537 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000). “As a result of this incident defendant was indicted in September 1996 for the felony of aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate (Penal Law § 240.32), * misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest, two counts of criminal mischief in the fourth degree (for damages to the…”
State v. McCullah, 787 N.W.2d 90 (Iowa 2010). “N.Y. Penal Law § 240.32 Legislative Memorandum (McKinney 2008).”
People v. Polanco, 2 A.D.3d 1154 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003). “” If the Legislature intended to prevent inmates from exposing facility employees to bodily materials by any means an inmate could contrive, it could have placed a period after the word feces and omitted the remainder of that sentence.”
People v. Poulos, 144 A.D.3d 1389 (N.Y. App. Div. 2016). “causes or attempts to cause such employee to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, or the contents of a toilet bowl, by throwing, tossing or expelling such fluid or material” (Penal Law § 240.32 [emphasis added]). We have previously recognized that the…”
People v. Pysadee, 1 A.D.2d 959 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003). “Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him after a jury trial of aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate (Penal Law § 240.32) and sentencing him to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of V/s to 4 years.”
People v. Williams, 124 A.D.3d 1285 (N.Y. App. Div. 2015). “Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate (Penal Law § 240.32). As the People correctly concede, defendant’s purported waiver of the right to appeal is invalid (see People v Khan,…”
People v. Banch, 2021 NY Slip Op 05894 (N.Y. App. Div. 2021). “by throwing, tossing or expelling such fluid or material" (Penal Law § 240.32). [FN1] At trial, a correction officer (hereinafter the first correction officer) testified that, on December 10, 2016, he and another correction officer (hereinafter the second officer) were…”
Matter of Schwabler v. Dinapoli, 2021 NY Slip Op 03099 (N.Y. App. Div. 2021). “Upon consideration of the plain meaning of the statutory language and its commonly understood usage, as well as a review of the definitions given to the term "inmate" in relevant Correction Law and Penal Law provisions ( see Correction Law §§ 2 [16] [a]; 102 [d], 400 [5]; Penal…”
People v. Burkett, 12 A.D.3d 1196 (N.Y. App. Div. 2004). “Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him following a bench trial of aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate (Penal Law § 240.32). Defendant’s challenge to the prosecutor’s obtaining of a sealed indictment is unpreserved for our review (see generally…”
People v. McFadgen, 274 A.D.2d 830 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000). “While incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility in Clinton County serving a sentence for manslaughter in the first degree, defendant was indicted on a single count of aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate (Penal Law § 240.32). Defendant admitted that he threw…”
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