Mentally ill Rikers inmates often routinely thrown in solitary: study

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

The Board of Correction report suggests that increasing violence at ikers Island is linked with the overuse of solitary confinements.

Mentally ill inmates at Rikers Island are routinely thrown in solitary confinement — in some cases spending thousands of days in the hole, according to a watchdog group’s study.

A report by the independent Board of Correction revealed that a startling 40% of the city jail’s 12,200 inmates are mentally ill — with a third suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

RELATED: BROTHER SUES BROTHER OVER ACCUSATION OF ATTEMPTED MURDER

The study, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, found that roughly half of the 800 inmates in solitary confinement at any given time have mental disorders.

Inmates are put in the hole for breaking jailhouse rules — which mentally ill detainees are more prone to do.

RELATED: ‘GOLD’ GYPSY IS SPRUNG FROM JAIL THROUGH REAL ESATE DEAL

“Since prolonged solitary confinement can cause symptoms of mental illness to appear even in previously healthy individuals, we strongly recommend against imposing it as a punishment for a predetermined duration even on those inmates not deemed to be mentally ill,” said Dr. James Gilligan, an NYU psychiatrist and lead author of the study.

The report suggested that an increase in violence at the city’s main jail is linked to an overuse of solitary confinement.

RELATED: INMATE SUICIDE AFTER GUARDS STOP FIRST ATTEMPT

At least six inmates spent more than 1,000 days in the hole, the study found.

The watchdog group recommended that the city Correction Department team up with teaching hospitals to provide intensive therapeutic services to mentally ill inmates.

Correction Commissioner Dora Schriro said the department has already started to address the issue, introducing nonsolitary forms of punishment and opening two new dormitory-style units for mentally ill inmates.

“It was (the Correction Department) who saw this striking growth in the percentage of mentally ill in the jails and we rang the bell,” Schriro told the AP.

NY Daily News- Top Stories

http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=16906

via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info