I.B.O.: Rikers Slow To Meet Mental Health Obligations
By Gloria Pazmino Capital New York May 11, 2015
The city’s Independent Budget Office released a report Monday that found the city’s spending on correctional mental health services has not kept up with demand as the mentally ill population at Rikers Island continues to increase.
The I.B.O. report also found discharging services for mentally inmates cannot be properly tracked for effectiveness because neither the Department of Correction nor the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene tracks mentally ill inmates or their health after release.
Following a settlement reached more than a decade ago, the city agreed to provide a post-release health plan for inmates confined in its jails for at least 24 hours who receive mental illness treatment during their time there.
Last year, an audit by City Comptroller Scott Stringer found the DOHMH was failing to adequately monitor some mentally ill inmates discharged from Rikers and should expand a program to help them have access to social and medical services after release.
“Despite the court settlement, concerns have persisted about the adequacy of mental health services for inmates in the jails as well as plans for aiding them after their release,” the report reads.
Although the jail population has been on a steady decline since 2003, the number of inmates suffering from mental illness has increased during the same period. Today, at least 40 percent of Rikers Island’s inmate population is mentally ill.
From 2009 through 2012, health department spending on mental health services in the city remained flat at about $35 million a year, according to the report. During that same period, the number of inmates with mental health diagnoses increased by nearly 10 percent to more than 20,200 admissions in 2012, and comprised a larger share of the inmate population.
The department delivered more services in 2013, to a total of 8,492 people, than in 2009. There was also an increase of 56 percent in the number or discharge plans completed in 2013.
“The goal was to connect inmates with mental health care in the community prior to their release with the hope that this could help end the cycle of reoffending and re-incarceration for many of those with untreated or poorly managed mental illness,” the report says, referring to the legal settlement.
The report also acknowledges its study was based on data from both departments covering fiscal years 2009, 2012, and 2013, and credits Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration with installing policies to address the needs of mentally ill inmates at Rikers, as well as significantly increasing the department’s budget.
“In response to the recent turmoil in the jails, the de Blasio Administration has adopted new initiatives for addressing mental health services and other needs in the jails, including the ‘action plan’ recommendations announced in December,” the report says.
Last week, de Blasio announced D.O.C. will receive a $36.5 million budget allocation for fiscal year 2016 to fully fund the anti-violence action plan in addition to nearly $54 million for mental health services in the city, which will also include programs at Rikers Island.
The I.B.O’s full report is here: http://bit.ly/1RvGMgo