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March
28, 2006 Meanwhile, we have more to report on the agreement reached between the two houses as it relates to adult homes and adult home residents. The Assembly and Senate have agreed to accept the $2.8 million the Governor proposed spending on a variety of positive initiatives that will benefit adult home residents through the ENABLE program. Advocates were very pleased to see the legislature's addition of $2 million for air conditioning in residents' rooms - a pressing need for many, especially those with complicated medical conditions. Lastly, they also agreed to restore $2.8 million cut in the Governor’s proposal for the Adult Home Quality Incentive Payment Program (QUIP). Look for more detailed commentary on adult home initiatives in an upcoming edition of the Update.
“BOOT THE SHU” CAMPAIGN DESCENDS ON ALBANY: In a truly impressive showing, advocates looking to eliminate the use of solitary confinement (Special Housing Units – SHUs) for inmates with psychiatric disabilities arrived by the bus-load in Albany today to push for enactment of A.3926 (Aubry) / S.2207 (Nozzolio). On Monday, under the leadership of the Assembly sponsor and Chair of the Committee on Correction, Jeff Aubry, the Assembly overwhelming passed A.3926. This provided advocates in Albany today with the opportunity to express their gratitude to Assemblymembers for their support and to call upon members of the Senate to do as the Assembly has done and pass this crucial legislation. Advocates had appointments with 33 members of the legislature and were seen all over the Capitol, sharing personal stories of tragedy in the SHU with legislators and holding a press conference calling for enactment of the legislation that would ban this practice and create alternatives for inmates with psychiatric disabilities. Organizers and everyone who participated in today’s events are to be commended for their outstanding efforts.
IN THE NEWS: Civil
confinement has to be considered as one option. Editorial If Gov. George Pataki has his way, the New York State Legislature will pass a civil confinement law before he leaves office that allows sexual predators to be institutionalized after they complete prison sentences. Pataki has proposed spending $130 million to convert Camp Pharsalia prison in Chenango County into a civil confinement facility that would open in 2009. The state Assembly did not include money for the conversion in its 2006-2007 budget, but Pataki has vowed to push for the funding. The fight over the facility is just one part of a bigger battle over the issue of civil confinement. A coalition that includes the state Mental Health Association, the New York State Defenders Association, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault says that civil confinement would drain resources that could be used for treatment programs for sexual offenders inside and outside of prison. The coalition says the program would unfairly categorize lower-level sexual offenders (including youths) as sexual predators, has no guarantee of success and would allow sex offenders to be labeled as having a "mental abnormality," which is not an accepted professional diagnosis for mental illness. All are legitimate concerns. Certainly, there is a difference between a sexual predator and a 19-year-old who has consensual sex with a 15-year-old. The cost of confining those committed to special facilities has been estimated to be as much as $200,000 per prisoner per year. And the designation of "mental abnormality" does pose the risk of confusing morally repulsive behavior with true mental illness. Yet simply rejecting the idea of civil confinement isn't the answer, either. Sexual predators commit the most heinous sexual crimes, often against young children. Even if the most dangerous offenders are just a small part of the sex offender population, who wants them released from prison, especially when they have received no treatment? Lawmakers should not grandstand for the public, passing legislation just to say they did something. They should carefully examine the experiences of 16 other states that have civil confinement laws. Civil confinement should be one of several strategies, including better and mandatory treatment programs and longer sentences. And lawmakers still need a better strategy for dealing with the most dangerous offenders living among us now Onondaga County alone has nearly 300 level 3 offenders spread out in almost every city, town and village. Incredibly, several have committed sexual acts against children and served short sentences or received probation for their deeds. Pataki's push for a civil confinement bill has forced a discussion on what should be done with the state's most dangerous sexual predators. That discussion now must lead to concrete action.
Plan
gives mentally ill option to jail. By Matthew Spina 2002 death of inmate, cost motivate proposal By wandering naked down a West Side street, 28-year-old Michael T. Bennett won a spell of captivity that ended with his death after three days in the Erie County Holding Center. Bennett's death, in turn, triggered a debate over whether he should have been placed in a mental hospital instead. County Executive Joel A. Giambra cites that case from 2002 as one reason why officials should, over time, transfer inmates from county lockups into a system his officials are developing. Giambra's other reason is cost. Each day, Erie County holds about 375 inmates with mental health problems, and about 275 are jailed on misdemeanors or low-level felonies. Those inmates are generally poor, homeless, or sometimes both. Without resources to post bail and with few other places for them to be monitored, they are locked up at an average cost of $100 a day, typically for 30 days, according to a county report. They repeat the experience three or four times a year. The county's proposal would work like this: 100 of those 275 inmates could be housed in four residential units run by the Restoration Society and the Lakeshore Behavioral Health Corp., two not-for-profits already in the treatment business. Each person would have a small living space, and the facilities would run along the guidelines of the federal government's Safe Haven supportive housing program, addressing people with mental health problems. Those 100, and the other 175, who would sleep in their own homes or in the community's other psychiatric units, would be treated at Erie County Medical Center by staff from the hospital and the state University at Buffalo Medical School's Department of Psychiatry. The staff would include an employment counselor and county probation officers with training in behavioral therapy. The proposal emerged from the county's Holding Center Task Force, which studies ways to alleviate jail crowding, reduce overtime paid to corrections officers and avoid construction of a new jail or new jail space. The researchers modeled the county's idea on a program in Boulder, Colo. "It has shown a significant reduction in the days that individuals spend in the holding center or jail," said Philip R. Endress, the county's mental health commissioner. "I believe there was a 65 percent reduction in the recidivism rate for the folks that are enrolled." In theory, the Erie County program would yield benefits beyond those provided by Buffalo's specialty courts - drug court and mental health court. "I very much favor there being increased access to mental health treatment facilities and that law enforcement personnel be trained to recognize such individuals very early," said Sheriff Timothy B. Howard. But he is not as optimistic as Giambra when it comes to the long-term savings of a mental health program. While Giambra thinks it could lower the millions of dollars paid in overtime to corrections officers each year, Howard says it probably won't. "The loss of these people might not reduce our staffing levels," he said. "But they might help us avoid having to build additional jail space." While Giambra figures he will save county taxpayers money by getting people with mental health issues out of county lockups, the program will still require taxpayer money, $16 million to start it up. But he wants those millions to come through Albany and Washington. His officials will request $9 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build the four 25-bed units, and they'll ask state government for the remaining $7 million needed for the treatment program at ECMC, to operate the housing, and for construction aid. Giambra put that $7 million on the wish list he has given local state lawmakers. County leaders have no shortage of ideas on how Albany can help after state legislators demanded the county share another $12.5 million in sales tax income in 2007. The request also is signed by County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz and Legislature Chairwoman Lynn M. Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda. State Sen. Dale M. Volker, R-Depew, supports the proposal and has contacted the state Department of Correctional Services and the state's mental health commissioner for their help in making it become reality, an aide said. "We are going to do our best to secure money to help the county with this," said Craig Miller. Bennett, a diagnosed schizophrenic, died from traumatic asphyxia when at least eight deputies tried to restrain him in the holding center in July 2002. "Had Bennett been afforded adequate emergency mental health care or been the subject of a properly supervised and controlled use of physical force, his death may have been prevented," a state Commission of Correction report said.
Homeless,
mental ill youth need attention. Letter to the Editor We are pleased to see "at-risk" youth, and youthful offenders getting some much needed attention ("Debate rages on juvenile justice," March 9). Reporter Kate Gurnett correctly notes the role of "poverty, drug addiction, fractured families and uninvolved parents," but omits mention of homelessness and mental illness. Last year, 220 homeless youth and teen parents came to The Homeless and Travelers Aid Society (HATAS) seeking shelter -- a 165 percent increase over 2000. HATAS also worked with two dozen adolescents who are "aging out" of the children's mental health system. When mental illness is added to the mix, you have a recipe for just about everything that can go wrong in a young life: homelessness, sexually transmitted diseases, addiction, gangs and incarceration. While personal accountability and discipline are important in dealing with these issues, so too are positive incentives and programs that appeal to youth interests and needs. There are far too few local programs for youth -- especially older youth with mental illness -- but a number of human service agencies have joined working groups organized by Albany County's Departments of Social Services and Mental Health to develop plans to address these unmet needs. Everyone wants to feel empowered, and we need more constructive, community-based alternatives to the "thug power" that is often glorified on the streets. We can teach young people to invest in themselves, but we need to lead by example and invest in programs for youth. IRA
L. MANDELKER, Ph.D. Executive Director
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