Coalitions Fight NYS Prison Rights Abuses for Inmates w/ Psych. Disabilities
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
NYAPRS Note: Following are two powerful pieces urging passage of A.8849 which would 'would make it illegal to place people with psychiatric disabilities in SHU, and would create alternative therapeutic housing areas for people with psychiatric disabilities who are having difficulties functioning in prison.' This will is a top priority for NYAPRS members and will be strongly featured in our upcoming January 27 Albany Legislative Day.
The second piece is a letter from NAMI member Leah Gitter which will be a featured article in the January 2004 issue of the NAMI-NYC Metro Reporter.
Coalition Fights Human Rights Abuses
''I wanted to commit suicide. I was screaming for help, but so was everyone else, so no one came. There was so much noise - people yelling, throwing urine - it all blended together and the correction officers couldn't even hear me. If it wasn't for my family, I wouldn't have made it out alive,'' says a young woman who would prefer not to be named, describing her 30 days in solitary confinement in a New York State prison five years ago.
A broad coalition of families, consumers and other members of the mental health community are joining together to fight to end a serious human rights abuse happening in New York's State prisons. New York, which has approximately 67,000 prisoners in its state prison system on any given day, houses over 7% of these prisoners in segregated disciplinary housing. This is nearly four times the national average of 2%. Worse yet, at least 23% of prisoners in disciplinary housing are people with serious mental illness - creating dangerous and inhumane conditions that have recently been the subject of reports by both Human Rights Watch and the Correctional Association of NY.
Under the Pataki administration, thousands of new disciplinary housing beds have been built and filled with prisoners who have committed disciplinary infractions. Prisoners are often sent to SHU for minor disciplinary infractions (commonly including behavior related to the person's mental illness and psychiatric symptoms).
Prisoners in disciplinary housing in New York are either in solitary confinement, or placed two prisoners in each cell. Prisoners in these settings (which the state calls Special Housing Units, or SHU) spend 23 to 24 hours a day in a cell with no other human contact, and face severe sensory deprivation, social isolation, and extreme boredom and idleness - conditions harmful to anyone's mental health, and devastating to people with psychiatric disabilities.
Shockingly, there is no limit on how long a person can remain in SHU in New York; once in SHU, in a decompensated state, many prisoners keep getting new tickets that add to their time in SHU. While visiting SHUs, researchers from the Correctional Association met one prisoner who has been sentenced to 35 years in SHU. Many prisoners with psychiatric disabilities are released directly from SHU to the streets, with no preparation for this shocking transition.
Between 1998 and 2001, over 50% of the 48 suicides that occurred in New York State prisons occurred in SHU, although these inmates comprise less than 10% of the prison population. Of 258 prisoners in SHU interviewed in a study by the Correctional Association of NY, 44% reported that they had attempted suicide while in prison..
New York State Assembly Members Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens, and Chair of the Corrections Committee) and Peter Rivera (D-Bronx, and Chair of the Mental Health Committee) have introduced legislation to stop this human rights violation. The legislation, A.8849, would make it illegal to place people with psychiatric disabilities in SHU, and would create alternative therapeutic housing areas for people with psychiatric disabilities who are having difficulties functioning in prison. Aubry and Rivera have already held public hearings on the bill in Rochester and New York City, and will hold a third hearing on January 13, 2004, in Albany.
New York State Assembly Members Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens, and Chair of the Corrections Committee) and Peter Rivera (D-Bronx, and Chair of the Mental Health Committee) have introduced legislation to stop this human rights violation. The legislation, A.8849, would make it illegal to place people with psychiatric disabilities in SHU, and would create alternative therapeutic housing areas for people with psychiatric disabilities who are having difficulties functioning in prison. Aubry and Rivera have already held public hearings on the bill in Rochester and New York City, and will hold a third hearing on January 13, 2004, in Albany.
Family members, ex-prisoners and others are organizing to support the bill and push for it to become law. Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities (RIPPD), a newly-formed grassroots group of people directly affected by the mass incarceration of mental health consumers is making this a key issue in their organizing efforts. A newly-formed coalition, Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (MHASC), is focused solely on passing this law, and invites all concerned citizens and organizations to join the coalition. We also hope that SHU will be a key issue during the upcoming NYAPRS and NAMI lobby days.
''I have trouble putting into words what my experience was with my godson during my visits when he was in SHU, said Leah Gitter, a family member of a prisoner with a psychiatric disability, a NAMI member, and a member of RIPPD. ''There is no way to express the misery and suffering produced by confinement in SHU. I equate it with visiting a prisoner of war. For the first month I could not control my tears.''
''I have trouble putting into words what my experience was with my godson during my visits when he was in SHU, said Leah Gitter, a family member of a prisoner with a psychiatric disability, a NAMI member, and a member of RIPPD. ''There is no way to express the misery and suffering produced by confinement in SHU. I equate it with visiting a prisoner of war. For the first month I could not control my tears.''
''It is shocking to learn that there are horrific human rights abuses happening in our own back yard, paid for with our own tax dollars, said Steven Fernandez, a member of MHASC. ''Nevertheless, it is true. We hope that everyone who cares about human rights in New York will join this effort, and that the legislature will end the torture of people with psychiatric disabilities in New York prisons.''
What can you do to help fight SHU?
Join MHASC and RIPPD!
Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (MHASC) is a new coalition of concerned citizens working to end the solitary confinement of mental health consumers in New York prisons. Get involved by calling Jessica Silver at 212-780-1400 x752 or email jesssilver@cairn.org. Jessica will put you on the MHASC mailing list and let you know when the next meeting is. We are also looking for organizations willing to endorse the campaign - even if you don't have time to attend meetings, this is a great way to get involved - please let Jessica know if your organization is willing endorse the campaign against SHU.
If you are a family member or consumer directly affected by ''criminalization,'' please join RIPPD. You can do so by calling Lisa Ortega at 646-602-5664, or emailing lortega@urbanjustice.org.
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Dear NAMI Friends,
Of all the critical issues facing the mental health community, one of the most neglected is the high incarceration rate of people with a psychiatric disability. We are in a CRISIS situation in New York State. It is important for the mental health community to acknowledge the crisis and help put a stop to the inhuman treatment that is taking place in the New York State Department of Correctional Services.
I am connected to NAMI through the criminal justice support group. The support group has been an anchor for me from the very beginning. In 1996 the criminalization issue was barely on the agenda. There was some attention being paid to the needed mental health services in jails and prisons but there was no public awareness that the prison system in this country was out of control. The focus of the group gives us the energy deal with the insurmountable problems we are faced with continually.
Dear NAMI Friends,
Of all the critical issues facing the mental health community, one of the most neglected is the high incarceration rate of people with a psychiatric disability. We are in a CRISIS situation in New York State. It is important for the mental health community to acknowledge the crisis and help put a stop to the inhuman treatment that is taking place in the New York State Department of Correctional Services.
I have been advocating for my family member for more seven years and rarely does a day go by when I don't think about these questions. I am trying to find an explanation of why the situation has gotten so harsh and devastating for all those involved.
Why did Judge McLaughlin give my family member a 2 to 20 years sentence thinking he would get the treatment he needed in prison?
Why is there such a disproportionate number of people with mental illness kept in solitary housing units confined to a 9 x 6 cell 23 hours a day?
Why do our elected and public officials continue to support housing a human being in such extreme restraints and think it is a solution to behavior problems caused by a brain disorder?
There are at least 8,000 prisoners with psychiatric disabilities in the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) and 25-50% of these prisoners are in disciplinary housing -Special Housing Units (SHU) for punishment for disciplinary infractions. For this population most of the infractions are related to their mental illness. There is no limit to a SHU sentence.
New York is a national leader in the use of solitary confinement and this vulnerable population is receiving the full brunt of this punishment.
I am connected to NAMI through the criminal justice support group. The support group has been an anchor for me from the very beginning. In 1996 the criminalization issue was barely on the agenda. There was some attention being paid to the needed mental health services in jails and prisons but there was no public awareness that the prison system in this country was out of control. The focus of the group gives us the energy deal with the insurmountable problems we are faced with continually.
Within the current support group, five of the active members have relatives incarcerated in DOCS. All of our loved ones are under disciplinary restrictions. Two of them have been in the SHU for over SIX years; two others are spending most of their time in SHU and keep lock (twenty-three hour lock-up in you own cell); the third is in keep lock.
It is a true nightmare for all of us. Even though we advocate and are involved, it is difficult to alleviate the suffering of our loved ones. We don't understand why the Department of Correctional Services with the tacit support of the Office of Mental Health, support the strategy of punitive segregation as punishment for behavior that comes from the illness. There are no alternatives and not enough adequate treatment and programs to prevent this cruel and inhuman punishment.
However I am relieved to say the issue of incarceration is finally coming to the surface.
In May 2002 Disability Advocates, Inc., a New York protection and advocacy agency, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan charging the State's Office of Mental Health and Department of Correctional Services with violations of the Eighth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution and two federal civil rights statutes, the American with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act.
In October 2003 the Correctional Association published ''Lockdown New York'' which describes how the horrendous conditions in solitary housing units in New York State negatively affects those with psychiatric disorders. At the same time, Human Rights Watch published a report on the severe treatment of the mentally ill in prisons throughout the country.
In June 2003 Assemblyman Jeffron Aubrey introduced Bill A8849 that would prohibit SHU time for prisoners with a psychiatric disorders. In September 2003 a new grassroots advocacy group, RIPPD (Rights for Incarcerated People with Psychiatric Disabilities) started meeting.
We are committed to making change through social action to stop the criminalization of people with psychiatric disabilities.
This is the time for the mental health community to be vigilant and pay attention to this issue. We need the support of everyone to get rid of the failed public policy of locking up people with mental illness. If we express our demands now while there is momentum, maybe we can stop the abuse and the cruelty. We have to let our public and elected officials know that we will not allow people from the mental health community to be ''tortured'' (as one consumer who was in the SHU said) by an unjust system any longer.
We cannot allow politics to push the issue of criminalization to the back burner. It is a humanitarian issue that has to be dealt with.
In Solidarity-
Leah Gitter
Leah Gitter
Source: Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement
This 'Mental Health E-News' posting is a service of the New York Ass'n of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services,
a statewide coalition of people who use and/or provide community mental health services
dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with psychiatric disabilities by promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights.
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