Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.
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Friday Fax from Albany

IT’S NOT TO LATE TO REGISTER!!! - MHANYS’ AWARDS DINNER AND ANNUAL CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 20-21, 2005

Featuring:

Free Special Screening of the documentary Out of the Shadow - October 20th, 8:00 P.M., Albany Marriott. Filmmaker Susan Smiley will be in attendance to discuss the film that chronicles the filmmaker’s mother and her experiences with schizophrenia. The Wall Street Journal said this film “movingly captures a side of schizophrenia that few of us ever see.”

Keynote Address on October 21st at 12:00 P.M. by the Spiro sisters - authors of the best-selling book, Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia. See below an article from today’s Albany Times Union featuring the Spiro sisters and MHANYS’ conference.

Friday’s Panel Discussions:

9:00 – 10:30 - Medicare Part D – Discussion of how the new Medicare drug benefit will impact New Yorkers living with mental health needs. Panelists include Dayle Berke, CMS; Erica deFur Malik, NMHA; Dawn Lannon, OMH

10:40 – 12:00 - Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) – The latest regarding the impact of PROS on the delivery of mental health services in New York. Panelists include Robyn Katz, OMH; Liz Mehnert, MHA in Orange County; Larry Tingley, Jefferson County.

2:00 – 3:30 - Juvenile Justice - Agency collaborations, best practices and strategies providers can utilize to work with the juvenile justice population that have mental illness. Panelists include Michael Bigley, OMH; Maria Morris Roves, OASAS; Meredith Ray, OMH

Scholarships still available! – For Information and Registration, contact Lillian Lasher at gliebman@mhanys.org
or call (518) 434-0439 ext. 20

Split by illness, united by love
By Kate Gurnett

Albany Times Union, October 19, 2005

Twins hope shared memoir will open minds, ease stigma of schizophrenia

Identical twins Pamela and Carolyn Spiro seemed to read each other's minds. But they veered down different paths. Pamela began to hear voices on the day President Kennedy was killed.

Will you kill you Pam Spiro, Spam pam pam. She was 11.

Schizophrenia tightened its grip over the years, but Pam graduated from Brown University and wrote award-winning poetry. She also endured 60 hospitalizations, shock treatments and self-mutilation.

Carolyn became a psychiatrist. In a Connecticut hospital in 2000, she spotted a pudgy woman gesticulating wildly in the hall. She'd gone to visit Pam. But she didn't recognize her own twin.

To the rest of the world, she realized, Pammy is nobody.

Their memoir, "Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia," takes readers through their 1950s childhood: summer camp, eating disorders and sibling rivalries.

Pamela Spiro Wagner and Carolyn S. Spiro, now 52, will give the keynote luncheon address at the Mental Health Association in New York State's annual conference at the Albany Marriott on Friday.

In one book passage, Pam melts down in her apartment. Paramedics arrive. As they tighten restraint straps around her wrists as she lies on a stretcher, she whispers, "I'll be good, I promise." Later, she wrote, she felt useless and despised, "something they want to dump as soon as possible."

The memoir answers questions many have about mental illness.

Why, for example, do so many people quit taking their medications?

Side effects are often worse than the symptoms, Pam said in a telephone interview this week. Today, on better drugs, she sleeps a lot but is able to write, she said. "I don't think beyond the present."

In high school, Pam was considered the brighter star, expected to excel in academics, while Carolyn, then called Lynnie, planned to become a dancer.

The memoir helped Carolyn explore misconceptions and family frustrations involving schizophrenia.

Weathering her twin's psychotic rants and cursing wore her out.

"After a while you get tired of always having to be the one to hold back," Carolyn said. "I'd hang up the phone and I'd start screaming. Then call her back the next day."

Nurses and doctors also grew weary of Pam's abusive behavior.

"I told them this over and over and over again," Carolyn said. "It's coming out of nowhere, and it has such a drivenness and a power behind it -- and you know ... it's psychotic."

On their book tour, the sisters hope to help other families battling the terrors of brain diseases.

Readers tell Pam: You've written my experience; I couldn't put it into words.

People are "coming out of the woodwork," Carolyn said. "We've been living with this for so long and we haven't been able to talk about it with anyone," they tell her. "Given how perplexed and crazed I have been by the system (as a psychiatrist) and how intimidated even I have been, I don't have any idea how the ordinary person figures out what to do," Carolyn said.

"It would be nice to get people to realize that you can say the word -- 'schizophrenia' -- even though there's much more of a stigma than with bipolar disorder or depression," she added.

Schizophrenia affects about 1 percent of the population. She encourages patients and families to seek help as early as possible.

"The point is, first, to get the 'mental' out of mental illness and get people thinking about the brain. And stop making fun of people who have diseases in the brain. They may look funny or do funny things, but they shouldn't be made fun of any more than people who have cerebral palsy or mental retardation."

As they collaborated on "Divided Minds," Carolyn watched her sister climb from her deepest depths to reach her highest functioning state. "I've never seen her look so good, sound so good, in our entire adult life," she said.

The important message is there is some recovery from serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, said Glenn Liebman, chief executive officer of the Mental Health Association in New York State.

People think schizophrenia "is like a life sentence. (But) people can get better and lead productive lives," he said. "There are all kinds of different formulas. There are vocational programs, there are education programs. I've seen some amazing stories."

MEDICARE PART D:

CMS Releases Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Details and Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder: CMS has now made public the state specific information on the prescription drug plans from which individuals on Medicare in New York State can choose. PDP plans are the types of plans into which most dual eligibles (those with both Medicare and Medicaid coverage) will be automatically enrolled. Information on the PDP plans available in New York State is available at http://www.medicare.gov/medicarereform/mapdpdocs/PDPLandscapeny.pdf.

In addition, CMS has unveiled the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool, which will help individuals choose a plan that best fits their prescription drug coverage needs. This tool is available at http://www.medicare.gov/.

NMHA Introduces New Medicare Consumer Workbook to Help Make Transition to Medicare Part D: NMHA has released a workbook to help Americans with Medicare enroll in the new Medicare prescription drug program, available online at www.nmha.org.

The new Medicare consumer workbook includes:

• Basic information about the Medicare prescription drug benefit
• Tips for individuals to prepare for enrolling in a prescription drug plan
• Resources and organizations that can assist in enrollment and applying for financial assistance
• Important questions individuals should ask when comparing their plan options
• Worksheets to assist individuals choose a plan and apply for extra financial assistance
• Definitions of common terms individuals can expect to hear during the enrollment process

The Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage Workbook for Mental Health Consumers is available at www.nmha.org or by calling the NMHA Resource Center at 800-969-NMHA (6642).

New Online Resource for Medicare Part D as it Relates to Mental Health Now Available: Leading mental health organizations have joined together to create a central resource on Medicare's new prescription drug benefit. The new website, www.mentalhealthpartd.org, contains easy-to-understand, top-line information tailored specifically to psychiatrists and other physicians, providers at community health centers, and consumers and their families. This new resource has been established in partnership between the American Association of Community Psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, the National Mental Health Association, and Treatment Effectiveness Now.

The Coalition of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies has established a Medicare Part D Mental Health Provider Helpline: The Helpline will assist mental health providers in the New York City area who have questions about the new Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. This new Part D benefit will have great impact upon mental health consumers, and will serve as a valuable resource in easing the transition.

Providers may call 212-742-1873 with their Part D questions on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The Helpline will be closed for one hour each day at around 1:00 PM.

CMS Notice of Errata: “Medicare & You 2006” Handbook - If you’re helping someone with Medicare who qualifies for extra help paying for Medicare prescription drug coverage, please read this important message.

There is an error in the area-specific versions of the “Medicare & You 2006” handbooks, which are mailed to people with Medicare in October. Starting on page 97-A, you’ll see a series of charts listing the Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. The last column of the charts is called “If I Qualify for Extra Help, will My Full Premium be Covered?” Due to an error, this column lists “Yes” for every plan. This error does not impact the charts listing Medicare Advantage plans.

Action Needed: If you are counseling someone who qualifies for extra help compare Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, tell them about the error in the “Medicare & You” handbook. Inform them that not all plans listed are available for no premium. Help people who qualify for extra help find and compare the plans that are available for no premium. Medicare will post corrected versions of the Handbook that contain this information at www.medicare.gov on the web. After October 17, 2005, here’s how to find out the actual premium amounts to help people make an informed decision:

• Use the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder on www.medicare.gov/ • Call 1-800- MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-4028
For more detailed questions and answers about this error, go to www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships on the web.

Medicare Rights Center – 6.4 Million at Risk: Protecting the Poorest Americans During the Medicare Drug Transition: Following is the report’s executive summary.

Under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), 6.4 million “dual eligibles” - low-income individuals who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid - will lose their Medicaid drug coverage on January 1, 2006. Each dual eligible will be transferred into one of the hundreds of new Medicare “Part D” prescription drug plans for drug coverage. Because Medicaid drug coverage ends on the first day that Medicare drug coverage begins, the transition leaves no margin for computer or human error. As a result, millions of dual eligibles could experience gaps in drug treatment during the first months of Part D. Such gaps could have catastrophic human consequences. The political consequences could include widespread perception of a failed rollout of the Medicare prescription drug benefit. If 95 percent of dual eligibles make a smooth transition in January 2006, more than 300,000 of the frailest Americans will lose access to needed medicine.

Dual eligibles have extensive health care needs, and they are among the most vulnerable men and women in both Medicare and Medicaid. Compared to other Medicare beneficiaries, dual eligibles are far more likely to be sick, from underserved ethnic backgrounds, living in rural areas, lacking high school diplomas, living in nursing homes, and very poor. Nearly a quarter live in institutions, and four in ten have a cognitive impairment.

Transitioning dual eligibles into Part D will happen in a very compressed timeframe. Most dual eligibles will be notified by mail of their random assignment into a Part D plan in late October. Between then and December 31, 2005, dual eligibles will have to learn how to navigate a complex new program and how to evaluate formularies, access drugs that may not be on plan formularies, and understand pharmacy networks as well as other features of their plans.

In general, Part D drug coverage will differ from Medicaid drug coverage in several important respects, including the specific drugs that are covered, the pharmacies that enrollees may use, copayment rules, and the availability of emergency supplies pending appeals when a plan denies coverage of a prescribed medication.

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken important steps to improve automatic enrollment processes and formulary protections, the final transition process remains inadequate to ensure a smooth transition for dual eligibles. Dual eligibles face serious risks, including falling through the cracks of complicated data exchanges between and among the Social Security Administration (SSA), CMS, plans and states; losing coverage because of formulary and pharmacy network limitations; and not understanding changes in their coverage enough to navigate the complicated new system. All patients face risks that their doctors and pharmacists will be overwhelmed by the demands of the new system in the early months of the new Part D benefit.

Congress could reduce the risks of a precarious transition strategy by extending the availability of Medicaid as backup drug coverage during a reasonable transition period to Part D. With a safety net in place, CMS, states, health advocates, drug plans and providers would have time to implement a comprehensive education and transition plan that would ensure that all dual eligibles are successfully enrolled in Part D plans; that they know how and where they can obtain necessary drugs; and that their doctors have had adequate time and information to review and, if necessary, appeal new formulary guidelines.

Entire report available at http://www.medicarerights.org/drugtransitionreport.pdf.

IN THE NEWS:

A number of articles have been published in newspapers throughout the state regarding the issue of civil confinement of sexual predators. Following are amongst the most comprehensive articles on this subject.

Sex Offenders Face Extended Confinement Under Gov.’s Plan. By Simon Yirka-Folsom
Legislative Gazette, October 11, 2005

Frustrated with the Assembly, Governor George E. Pataki has directed that every sex offender in state custody be evaluated for involuntary civil confinement before being released from prison.

Pataki has submitted a bill to the Legislature every year since 1998, but the Assembly has not allowed a vote, instead holding hearings to decide whether the current commitment law is sufficient.

“The governor can’t wait any longer for the Assembly leadership to pass his proposal,” Pataki spokesman Kevin Quinn said. “He has reassessed our abilities under the current law and asked the Office of Mental Health and Department of Correctional Services to push the envelope with the application of the existing law.”

“Before legislation is passed, I will do everything in my power under the current law to keep these horrible predators who shouldn’t be amongst society from being back in society,” Pataki said. He said that his proposal would broaden the power of law enforcement to do this.

Jonathan Gradess, executive director of the New York State Defenders Association said that proposals for civil confinement are too broad.

“They don’t use the language used in mental health and would commit far too many offenders,” said Gradess. “They certainly should use the current law.”

A level-three sex offender, identifying himself as Jack, expressed concern that civil confinement legislation would be retroactive. He served 17 years in prison and says, “I think I’ve paid my debt.”

“You’re giving the lawmakers too much power, Jack said. “Once a sentence is set, it shouldn’t go longer than that.”

Mental health officials have been reluctant to include sex offenders in their definition of “mentally ill.” Michael Seereiter, director of public policy at the Mental Health Association, expressed dissatisfaction with the wording in the proposals under consideration by the Legislature. He said that the proposed legislation uses the term “mental abnormality.”

“There is no clinical definition for that,” he said. “Mental health professionals treat mental illnesses, not mental abnormalities.”

Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera, D-Bronx, said he believes the governor’s actions will have a positive effect and that the use of the current law will answer questions the Assembly has about the cost and effectiveness of civil confinement. Rivera chairs the committee on mental health.

“Our committee challenged the governor to use the current law, and I think that he answered the challenges we’ve laid on him,” Rivera said.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said, “We have repeatedly urged the administration to ensure that our existing law are being fully used to protect the public against sexual predators. We are glad that the administration is finally taking steps to use New York’s existing civil commitment law.”

Assemblymen Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, and Rivera raised questions regarding the involvement of the judiciary, as well as the recidivism rates of sex offenders.

“A lot of the action that is being promulgated is promulgated under the assumption that the offender will inherently offend again, which is not necessarily true,” Aubry said.

According to Quinn, 32 inmates have been evaluated, and just five committed to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center.

“There are going to be sexual predators that also have a mental illness, but the large majority of individuals don’t belong in the mental health system,” said Seereiter. “The expertise for dealing with this population lies within the prison system, not the mental health system.”

Assemblyman Pat Manning, R-East Fishkill, said he is providing petitions to force Silver to allow a civil confinement bill to the floor for a vote before the end of the year.

“It is imperative that a special Assembly session be held to pass this critical legislation,” Manning said.

Pataki Uses State Law to Hold Sex Offenders After Prison. By Alan Feuer
The New York Times, October 4, 2005

Frustrated at Assembly Democrats for not passing a bill to allow the civil confinement of convicted sex offenders, Gov. George E. Pataki has ordered state correction and mental health officials to start locking up violent sex offenders in mental health facilities anyway, even after they have completed their prison terms, his aides said yesterday.

Mr. Pataki quietly directed the State Office of Mental Health and the State Department of Correctional Services last month to use New York's existing involuntary civil commitment law to keep violent sex offenders off the streets. Even though that law was not specifically devised with sex offenders in mind, state officials say, it has been used since the governor's order to commit at least five convicted sex offenders to a mental health facility run by the correction department in Manhattan.

The existing law allows authorities to civilly confine people who are mentally ill and pose a threat to the public.

The governor "has reassessed our abilities under current law and asked the Office of Mental Health and Department of Correctional Services to push the envelope with the application of existing law," said a spokesman for Mr. Pataki, Kevin Quinn.

"Experience has shown that sexual predators pose a serious threat to society even after they have served their sentences," Mr. Quinn added.

With that in mind, he said, the administration has won the confinement of five convicted sex offenders at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, where they will remain under lock and key until deemed safe by a doctor or released by a judge. The policy was reported Monday in The New York Post.

Among those civilly committed at the center are a man who served a three-and-a-half year prison term for raping a 3-year-old boy he was baby-sitting for and another who served four and half years for sexually abusing his 11-year-old cousin. Others include a man who served seven years for sexually abusing a young girl, officials say, and a man who abused three girls, two of them 10 years old and one of them 12.

Mr. Quinn said Mr. Pataki expected lawsuits to arise from his decision, principally from the incarcerated men.

At least 16 other states and the District of Columbia now have laws allowing the authorities to confine violent sex offenders to psychiatric hospitals after their prison terms are over, Mr. Quinn said. The laws have been upheld by the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Pataki has been trying to have such a law passed in New York since 1998, Mr. Quinn said, and while the State Senate has passed his proposal six times since 1999, the State Assembly has refused to go along.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said that the Assembly had repeatedly urged the Pataki administration to ensure that the current civil commitment law was being used fully to protect the public against "sexual predators."

"We are glad that the administration is finally taking steps to use New York's existing civil commitment law as one part of our ongoing effort to protect the public from sex offenses," he said in a statement.

Mr. Quinn said the governor's bill would establish a broader definition of "mental abnormality" to include violent sexual offenders and remove legal impediments that have prevented some courts and doctors from authorizing the commitment of sex offenders to psychiatric hospitals.

By the end of last week, 32 inmates had been evaluated under the current civil commitment law and, except for the five sent to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, the rest were set free, officials said. There are more than 5,000 violent sex offenders in the state prison system, Mr. Quinn said.

New York's sex offender confinement is costliest in U.S. By Cara Matthews
The Journal News, October 10, 2005

ALBANY — The state will spend nearly $200,000 annually to house each dangerous sex offender who has served out a prison sentence but is still deemed a threat, far more than most other states' civil commitment programs.

Gov. George Pataki has proposed an involuntary civil commitment for sex offenders since 1999, but it has died in the Legislature. In a move he described as "pushing the envelope," he recently ordered psychiatric evaluations for every sex offender completing a sentence to determine whether the offenders are dangerous.

As of last week, five of 32 evaluated were being held at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center.

The governor's administration said the high cost of confinement is justified, but mental-health advocates said they worry that the program will siphon already-limited mental-health dollars for people who may not be mentally ill. They are concerned that the sex offenders could harm patients in mental hospitals, they said.

Pataki spokesman Kevin Quinn said one can't put a price on public safety.

"We're confident that we can cover these costs within the allocated funds," he said.

Pataki said he is protecting the public from "monsters."

"I don't think there's a more heinous crime in the world than people who prey sexually on our young children, and everything I can do as governor to keep them behind bars or to keep them institutionalized after their prison term is over, I intend to do," he said.

Jonathan Russo, whose mother, Concetta Russo-Carriero, was stabbed to death June 29 while walking to her car in a parking garage next to the Galleria mall in White Plains, said the Legislature's failure to pass a confinement law for sex offenders leaves Pataki with no choice.

Phillip Grant, a registered Level 3 sex offender who served 23 years in state prison after he raped three women at knife point, has been charged with second-degree murder in Russo-Carriero's death.

"It's unfortunate that the governor has been forced to do this, but the Democratic leadership in the Assembly has to stop playing politics and adopt a confinement law specifically for sex offenders," said Russo, whose family last month presented Assembly members with a petition, signed by more than 10,000 people, calling for such a law. "I don't know what the costs are, but what matters is that the Assembly needs to get this done and get it done right. They need to listen to what the people of New York want and make New York a safer place to live, by passing a law that is tailored specifically to sex offenders."

Pataki's order took effect Sept. 12. The five men who were hospitalized all had been convicted of sexually abusing children, and their prison terms had ranged from 3 1/2 to 19 1/2 years.

The men are in the STAIR — Service for the Treatment and Abatement of Interpersonal Risk — program at Manhattan Psychiatric Center. Many STAIR patients are treated for about a year and released, according to the state Office of Mental Health. Skills taught in the 100-bed secure unit include negotiation and management of emotions.

The average yearly cost for a patient in a mental hospital in New York is $195,275, said Casey Cannistraci, a spokeswoman for the Office of Mental Health.

It costs an average of $29,000 a year to house a prisoner in New York, state prison spokeswoman Linda Foglia said. The agency estimated that 800 to 900 inmates a year would be reviewed for the sex offender civil commitment, she said.

Quinn said it was impossible to predict how many sex offenders would be held in psychiatric hospitals. About 5,000 currently are behind bars, he said.

New York is using existing mental-hygiene law to lock up dangerous offenders who have served their prison sentences. Other states have not gone that route. Instead, they have enacted special laws for institutionalizing dangerous sex offenders.

Under New York's mental-hygiene law, people can be involuntarily committed if they are deemed to have a "substantial risk" of harming themselves or others.

If New York doesn't expect to have a lot of sex offenders civilly committed, putting them in mental hospitals would be cheaper than setting up a separate system, said Roxanne Lieb, director of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, a state-funded nonpartisan research group.

The highest annual per-patient cost for housing, treatment and supervision of civilly committed sex offenders was $109,000 in Minnesota, and the lowest for an inpatient program was $12,680 a year in South Carolina, according to a March institute report.

A big part of the greater expense at mental hospitals is having emergency medical staff available at all times, Lieb said. Those institutions are designed to treat people in crisis. Generally, sex offenders are not in that category, she said.

In the other states that have confinement programs, a small percentage of people have been released, the Washington report found. Of a total of 3,493 people held since the laws took effect, 427 — 12 percent — had been discharged as of Dec. 31.

Washington and other states elected not to apply existing mental-health statutes because doing so could negatively affect the people for whom the mental-hygiene laws are written, Lieb said.

Pataki is misusing the system, because many sex offenders aren't mentally ill, said Harvey Rosenthal, head of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services. Many can recover and change their behaviors, he said.

"We continue to believe that the solutions to assuring public safety from sex offenders lay in the criminal justice system, whether it's higher sentences, more in-prison treatment or mandated community treatment," he said.

Pataki said the state is "operating within the structure of the law," but he expects legal challenges. He said a civil commitment law for sex offenders would give the state broader power to detain dangerous predators. His proposal would allow the offenders to be housed in a secure facility at a prison after serving their sentences.

7 More Perverts Confined. By Kenneth Lovett
New York Post, October 13, 2005

ALBANY — Call them the dirty dozen.

Over the past week, the Pataki administration has locked up another seven convicted sexual predators who were due to be released from prison, bringing the total to 12 this month.

The Post reported last week that Gov. Pataki, frustrated that the Democratic-led Assembly has not acted on a bill to allow for the civil confinement of sex offenders who complete their prison terms, ordered his administration to "push the envelope" and act on its own.

Citing state law that allows for the involuntary commitment of the mentally ill, the administration has begun reviewing all sex offenders before they are released from jail to determine whether they might pose a risk to themselves or society.

To date, 52 cases have been reviewed — including 20 over the past 10 days — with 12 being deemed dangerous enough to warrant confinement in Manhattan Psychiatric Center, Pataki spokesman Kevin Quinn said.

Among the seven sex fiends newly confined is:

* A man convicted of repeatedly sodomizing and sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy.

* A repeat offender most recently convicted of sodomizing his 9-year-old daughter several times.

* A burglar who choked and sexually abused one female victim and sexually abused three other females, including a 5-year-old girl.

"The governor is going to continue to push the envelope to keep sexual predators off our streets and away from our children," Quinn said.

"The Assembly majority, by refusing to allow a bill to come up for a vote despite overwhelming bipartisan support, has given us no choice."

In order to civilly confine a sex offender under the new guidelines by the Pataki administration, two clinicians from the Office of Mental Health must agree the action is appropriate while a third doctor at the treating psychiatric hospital must concur.

Civilly confining sex offenders costs $535 a day or just under $200,000 a person per year, officials said.

"You can't put a price on New Yorker's safety," Quinn said.

Those civilly confined are kept locked up until doctors determine they are no longer a threat to the public or a judge releases them.

Civil libertarians have labeled Pataki's unilateral action "official lawlessness" and "political posturing and pandering."

Pataki aides expect legal challenges to the new policy, and privately expect they could likely lose.

NYAPRS Note: Last week's account of the vicious beating inflicted on a NYC man with a psychiatric disability underscores the recent finding that people with psychiatric disabilities are 11+ times more often the victims of violence than the general public. While the headlines scream for days when rare episodes of violence are committed by people with psychiatric disabilities, they rarely tell the opposite and more truthful story.

Mentally Ill Man Is Severely Beaten in His Building. By Kareem Fahim and Rachel Metz
New York Times, October 14, 2005

A 50-year-old East Harlem man with a history of mental illness was viciously beaten in the lobby of his building, his sister said yesterday.

The man, Ralph Richardson, who his sister said had lived in the building in the Taft Houses since he was 13, was in critical condition yesterday at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

"Right now, he's in a comatose state," said his sister, Patricia Johnson. "His whole face is just disfigured."

On Wednesday, sometime after 11 p.m., the authorities found Mr. Richardson on the linoleum floor in the lobby of 1345 Fifth Avenue, near a bank of elevators. A man who said he saw Mr. Richardson there described his severe injuries, and said Mr. Richardson was lying in a pool of blood.

Referring to whoever attacked her brother, Ms. Johnson said, "It looks like all they did was concentrate on his head."

An investigator with knowledge of the case called it "wide open," adding that it was still unclear who had attacked Mr. Richardson, and what the motive had been. Ms. Johnson said her brother's wallet and money had not been taken.

There are no cameras in the lobbies of the buildings that make up the Taft Houses, said a spokeswoman for the New York City Housing Authority.

Mr. Richardson is schizophrenic, his sister said, and has spent time being treated in different hospitals. She said he graduated from college in the 1970's and became ill shortly after.

He lived with his mother until she died in October 2004 and had lived alone since then, Ms. Johnson said. Mr. Richardson took medication for his illness, she said, adding that "when he goes off it, he goes downhill."

Ms. Johnson said she last saw her brother a month ago. "He had lost a lot of weight, and he wasn't taking care of himself," she said.

Neighbors said Mr. Richardson was often seen walking alone and talking to himself. "He would just wander outside, singing to the buses and the cars," said a longtime neighbor who refused to give her name. Others said their children were sometimes frightened of him.

"Everybody knew he had a problem," said Mr. Richardson's stepsister, Glenda Richardson. "Everybody knew. So why someone would do that to him is cruel and mean, because he was harmless."

Editor’s Note: Breaking news today includes this article on the retirement of Assemblymember Steve Sanders. As Chair of the Assembly Mental Health Committee, Sanders played a major role in the enactment of the original Reinvestment legislation in 1993, which captures savings resulting from the downsizing of the state-operated inpatient psychiatric system and ensures that those funds are dedicated to community-based mental health services. He and his advocacy for people with mental health needs will be greatly missed in the NYS Legislature.

Longest tenured Assembly education chairman retires.
Newsday, October 19, 2005

ALBANY, N.Y. -- State Assembly Education Committee Chairman Steven Sanders announced Wednesday he will retire from the chamber after 28 years.

Sanders, a Manhattan Democrat, was the influential chairman of the committee for 11 years. He was the longest tenured chairman for that post.

He said he is resigning effective Jan. 1 for "personal and family considerations." Sanders said in a statement his health is "very good."

Sanders underwent heart surgery earlier this year, but even during his recovery in an Albany hospital he attended some key votes in the Assembly.

He will join Crane and Vacco, a lobbying firm, whose partner is former Republican Attorney General Dennis Vacco. Sanders said he will work for the government consulting firm but, according to state law, he won't lobby on matters before the Legislature for two years.

Gov. George Pataki could call for a special election to fill the vacant Assembly seat in the east side district or wait until November 2006, when Sanders' seat and the rest of the Legislature is up for election.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will choose a new education committee chairman.