N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 9, § 168.4
(a) Group confinement shall be construed to include situations where a child is separated from the general population and normal daily program by confinement in a locked cottage or living unit.
(b) Group confinement shall not be used as punishment.
It shall be used only in cases where a child constitutes a serious and evident danger to himself or others, is himself in serious and evident danger, or demonstrates by his own behavior or by his own expressed desire, that he is in need of special care and attention in a living unit separate from his normal surroundings.