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February 18, 2007
NY: Governor includes funds in budget for improved treatment of people who are mentally ill and incarcerated
Times Union
Albany, NY
Hope behind bars
Gov. Spitzer includes funds in his budget for improved treatment of mentally ill inmates
First published: Saturday, February 17, 2007
In some of the bleakest and unforgiving quarters imaginable in all of New York, there's suddenly reason for hope. For the people for whom times passes so excruciatingly slowly -- if, that is, they can fully comprehend even that much -- more humane treatment appears to be on the way.
Governor Spitzer's proposed state budget would increase the amount of money spent on mentally ill prison inmates by $60 million over three years. The governor wants to spend $9 million a year by 2009 so prisoners can be screened and better treated for mental illness. He's also seeking an additional $50 million in capital funds so prisons can be designed with more spaces appropriate for mentally ill inmates.
Compare that with the old ways, when, for example, then-Governor Pataki last year vetoed a bill that would have spared mentally inmates from the trauma and indignities of the solitary confinement known as The Box. Here's what he said at the time:
"While we work to ensure that prison inmates receive appropriate mental health services, we must do so in a way that is consistent with our obligation to ensure the continued preservation of the safety, security and order of the state's correctional facilities."
It sounded then and it still sounds now like political cover far more than any sense of either compassion or candor. The truth is that mental health services haven't been adequate in New York's prisons for the more than 8,000 people -- that's about 12 percent of the total inmate population -- who require them. The result is that these inmates are three times more likely to purposely injure themselves or commit suicide than other inmates.
Mr. Pataki's veto message rejecting a ban on putting these inmates in The Box suggested that a new, $380 million facility would be needed as a result, with an operating cost of $130 million a year. That alone, even if it were the case, isn't such a convincing reason to stop confining the most vulnerable of inmates under such circumstances. But what's especially telling now is that a new governor's budget does seek some of the funds necessary to house mentally ill inmates in a more appropriate manner.
The particulars of Mr. Spitzer's proposed budget for prisons have to be negotiated with the Legislature, of course, a traditionally cumbersome process. Freeing mentally ill inmates from The Box, however, is a much simpler matter. The Legislature merely needs to pass the same bill it did last year. It's hard to envision this governor vetoing such a bill on the grounds that security and order demand it.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=564124&category=OPINI
ON&newsdate=2/17/2007
Posted by lois at February 18, 2007 05:54 PM