NYC Fails To Treat Mentally Ill Residents

Submitted by ub on

The New York City Department of Correction is locking up inmates with mental illnesses in solitary confinement.

A new report obtained by The Associated Press points to 40 percent of the roughly 12,200 inmates in the city's jail system have a psychiatric diagnosis, and about a third have schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The Correction Department says just over 50 percent of inmates in solitary are mentally ill. That population also breaks jailhouse rules more than twice as often as other inmates.

The report recommends eliminating the use of solitary for mentally ill inmates as a punishment and instead partnering with a teaching hospital to provide intensive therapeutic services.

The review was obtained by The AP through a public records request.