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Dashawn Carter, 25, of Staten Island; He missed it.
During his incarceration at Rikers Island, he made nearly 100 medical appointments — mostly because corrections officers couldn’t get him to the clinic. He struggled to get the mental health medication he needed and was effectively made to fend for himself. Carter
“He had no support system,” says Carter’s high school friend Ray Robinson. The city. “He had to rely only on himself and those close to him.”
This is a type of negligence All very common and a Direct consequence The criminal legal system as a primary intervention for people’s mental health needs. In the United States, people with serious mental health problems are more likely to be exposed. Contact with law enforcement Instead of receiving any kind of treatment. Plus, there are ten times as many people. held In prisons and jails rather than state hospitals – their numbers are on a par with the number of state hospital beds. It’s getting tight. By 94 percent since the 1950s. Government hospitals themselves were often PunishableAnd in the 1960s, Congress passed legislation to replace them with community mental health centers. But a few They were built from these centers, and governments could not put money into such programs Disaster response teams or treatment options. Instead, funds have gone into prisons and jails, which is what it is now The biggest suppliers Mental health care in the country.
But they are prisons and jails Basically they are not medical areas, and are too weak to provide these services. About three out of five people have a history of a mental health condition They don’t get treatment. While in prison. And they are. More likely To face and undergo discipline three times
A long time in solitude. The trauma of incarceration following inadequate treatment and recycling creates a revolving door of people with mental health problems unable to stabilize their lives.
This is bad policy: mental health services in and out of prison are not only more effective, but also more effective. More cost effective Instead of being arrested. Failure to invest in treatment will instead result in a direct cost So that people have the ability to lead their lives, but authorities continue to pour more money into prisons and jails because they are unable to fully meet basic mental health needs. People with mental health needs It’s not a threat. For public safety in general – in fact, they are More likely Being the victim of crime rather than the criminal. Imprisoning people in need of treatment is unjust and destabilizing, leaving them vulnerable to serious harm while incarcerated without adequate services. That is a real danger to public safety.
In Los Angeles and New York City, Vera is working to address acute mental health crises in local jails. A meaningful investment in mental health services in both cities could build safety and lower prison populations.
Los Angeles: A successful program requires investment
Forty one percent People in the Los Angeles County Jail have mental health needs. That number has increased. 21 percent As of 2020, the number of people with serious mental health problems in county jails will be part of a decade-long increase. The LA prison system is monolithic. The largest mental health institution In the United States, the county spends $548 a day arrest
People in mental health units cost only $207 a day to be placed in community housing and treatment.
“By default, we have become the largest medical facility in the country. And we’re in jail,” said Tim Belavich, director of mental health care at the Los Angeles County Jail. He told WWLP.. “I would say that a prison facility is not the appropriate place to treat someone’s mental illness.”
But according to a study by the RAND Corporation, 61 percent Prisoners with mental health problems can be safely transitioned to incarceration alternatives, such as the Diversion and Return (ODR) housing program. Prison indeed Opportunity increases Retreatment, trapping people with mental health problems in a vicious cycle of incarceration without treatment. Community-based diversion programs, on the other hand, build public safety. Reduce re-incarceration
Prices that meet basic needs. There is no public safety reason to keep people in jail instead of making sure they get the treatment they need.
It is an ODR Housing program. Amazingly effective. Instead of prison, it provides permanent supportive housing and intensive clinical support for people with serious mental health needs who have been charged with a crime. The program’s model recognizes that the path to stability is not linear and considers housing a key pillar of success. Even if a client has other contact with the criminal justice system, ODR works with the prosecutor and judge to get them back into the program. Some of the program’s most successful clients needed multiple opportunities to reconnect. That continued support will ultimately address two of the most pressing issues in the county: homelessness and the revolving door of the criminal justice system. A study
It found that 86 percent of participants had no new felony convictions after 12 months, and 74 percent had stable housing after 12 months.
These promising results require support. However, ODR is underfunded. Investing in 3,600 new mental health treatment beds, including for ODR Housing clients, will reduce the county’s reliance on jails and advance its goal of closing Men’s Central. ODR’s success so far suggests that those new beds and services will reduce recidivism in Los Angeles by giving people options to stabilize their lives instead of locking them up when they seek treatment. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is set to pass a supplemental budget this September, a key opportunity to invest in a program that could serve as a national model.
New York City: Cutting prison budgets could build more supportive housing.
Rikers Island faces a mental health crisis. Fifty three percent Mental health diagnoses among people incarcerated on prison grounds in 2021, a 46 percent increase over the previous year. Examples of self-harm have skyrocketed As a result An ongoing humanitarian crisis In the year In 2021, it killed 16 people and raised claims in New York City jails. 11 more life Already this year.
As in Los Angeles, treatment in New York City jails is inadequate or non-existent. Despite a $2.7 billion budget, the city’s Department of Corrections (DOC) It fails continuously. To provide the necessary medical services to the people in prison, b Thousands of missed appointments It directly leads to death every month. At the beginning of this month, The judge decided The city must pay more than $200,000 to people who missed appointments while in DOC custody.
People with mental health problems also face punitive treatment and longer stays in New York City jails. The average length of stay for the general population on Riker’s Island is 222 days. Those receiving DOC-supervised mental health treatment for 24 hours or more, however, stayed an average of 357 days or 61 percent longer.
The city has pushed to create new secure mental health units at Rikers. As prison settings are, the solution is fundamentally inadequate Inconsistent
with treatment needed to meet mental health needs. And despite the bloated budget, DOC has it It’s late
Bringing even this deeply flawed solution online.
Instead of pouring money into programs that keep New Yorkers struggling with mental health issues, the city should invest in housing. New York spends on average 556,539 dollars
For someone every year to lock people up. On the other hand expenses
Just $41,833 per person to provide supportive housing.
The city can and should invest in medical services that enable people and communities to succeed and thrive. Mobile crisis response teams and crisis stabilization centers can provide alternatives to arrest. Supervised release, secure hospital beds and semi-secure treatment programs can provide alternatives to incarcerating people at Rikers Island. And supportive housing provides stability for people with mental health needs to avoid criminal justice system involvement and hospitalization in the first place.
Dashaun Carter should still be alive today. Collective investment in addressing mental health needs in the community, not in prisons, will build safer neighborhoods across the country and reduce our failing incarceration dependency.
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