The #HALTsolitary Campaign and Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement coalition released a new report documenting extreme punishment and abuse of people with mental health needs in New York State prisons in what are supposed to be more therapeutic alternatives to solitary confinement.
Among other recommendations, the report recommends the state stop incarcerating people with mental health needs, including by enacting the Treatment Not Jails Act as a first step, and properly implement the recently-enacted HALT Solitary Confinement Law’s requirements of restrictions on the use of disciplinary tickets and use of proven alternatives to solitary.
The reports found that 81.7% of people in the disciplinary Residential Mental Health Treatment Units were Black or Latinx people, compared to only 69.5% in non-disciplinary mental health units, 72.3% in all of DOCCS prisons, and only 37% in the state at large (including outside prison).