[NYAPRS Enews] NY's Prison Solitary Confinement Exlclusion Law Takes Effect: MHASC Fact Sheet

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: At long last, New York's SHU (prison solitary confinement)
Exclusion Law finally went into effect last Friday! On behalf of the
dedicated coalition who successfully pressed for its passage, Mental
Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement, we'd like to offer hearty
congratulations to everyone (including many dedicated NYAPRS members)
who worked so hard to 'Boot the SHU' and to make this reform happen!  

Look for MHASC to continue to work together to ensure that the law is
fully implemented and to assist the Department of Corrections and Office
of Mental Health to improve their treatment of prisoners with
psychiatric disabilities. Following is MHASC's fact sheet on the law's
implementation. 

 

 SHU Exclusion Law Fact Sheet

 

 

The SHU Exclusion Law protects people with serious mental illness in New
York State prisons from being placed in solitary confinement.  As of
July 1, 2011, the state must comply with the law.

 

What does the law require?

Prisoners with serious mental illness must be diverted or removed from
segregated confinement (disciplinary confinement in a Special Housing
Unit (SHU) or separate keeplock housing unit) to a residential mental
health treatment unit (RMHTU), where such confinement could potentially
be for more than 30 days, except in exceptional circumstances.

 

How does it work?

When a person is placed in segregated confinement, there must be a
suicide prevention screening and an initial assessment to determine
whether the person has a serious mental illness.

	1.	When should the assessment be done?

It depends on the mental health classification of the prison.  If it is
a prison with full-time mental health staff (Level 1 or 2 facility),
then a mental health clinician must do the assessment within one
business day of placement in segregated confinement.  If it is a prison
with part-time mental health staff (Level 3 or 4 facility), the
assessment must occur within 14 days of placement.

	2.	What happens if the person has a serious mental illness?

There is an administrative process to determine whether the person
should be removed from segregated confinement or whether exceptional
circumstances exist allowing the Department of Corrections to hold the
person in segregated confinement.  This process must be completed within
14 days of the initial assessment.  If the determination is that the
person should be removed from segregated confinement, the removal must
happen within 72 hours.  If there are exceptional circumstances, then
the person with serious mental illness does not have to be removed from
segregated confinement to an RMHTU.

	3.	What are exceptional circumstances that permit a
prisoner with serious mental illness to be kept in segregated
confinement?

When removal would pose a substantial risk to the safety of the prisoner
or others or a substantial threat to the security of the facility even
if additional restrictions were placed on the prisoner in an RMHTU OR

When the assessing clinician determines that placement in segregated
confinement is in the prisoner's best interest based on his/her mental
condition and that removing the prisoner to an RMHTU would be
detrimental to his/her mental condition.

 




What is a residential mental health treatment unit (RMHTU)?

Housing for prisoners with serious mental illness that is operated
jointly by the Department of Corrections and Office of Mental Health and
is therapeutic in nature.  The units cannot be operated as disciplinary
housing units.  Residential Mental Health Units, Behavioral Health
Units, Intermediate Care Programs, and Intensive Intermediate Care
Programs qualify as RMHTUs.

In RMHTUs, prisoners must receive

*         Therapy and programming in a setting appropriate to the
person's clinical needs while maintaining the safety and security of the
prison

*         At least four hours a day of structured out-of-cell
therapeutic programming and/or mental health treatment

*         Property, services, and privileges similar to prisoners in
general population although additional restrictions may be imposed to
maintain security and order on the unit

While in the RMHTU, the person's disciplinary sentence will continue to
run.  The disciplinary sentence must be periodically reviewed to
determine whether it should be reduced (a time cut) and whether the
person should be transferred to a less restrictive setting.

In these units, prisoners must not

*         Receive a restricted diet as a disciplinary sanction

*         Be issued misbehavior reports for refusing treatment or
medication, but may be subject to the disciplinary process for refusing
to go to the location where treatment is provided or medication is
dispensed

*         Be sanctioned with segregated confinement for misconduct on
the unit or removed from the unit and placed in segregated confinement,
except when the prisoner's conduct poses a significant and unreasonable
risk to the safety of prisoners or staff, or to the security of the
facility

A person's access to out-of-cell therapeutic programming can be
restricted in an RMHTU in exceptional circumstances when such access
presents an unacceptable risk to the safety of prisoners or staff.

 

What is serious mental illness according to the SHU Exclusion Law?

A prisoner is considered to have a serious mental illness if he or she
is:

*         Diagnosed with any of the following Axis I disorders:

 

* Schizophrenia

* Delusional Disorder

* Schizophreniform Disorder

* Schizoaffective Disorder

* Brief Psychotic Disorder

* Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder (excluding intoxication &
withdrawal)

* Psychotic Disorder NOS

* Major Depressive Disorders

* Bipolar Disorder I and II




*         Actively suicidal, or has engaged in a recent, serious suicide
attempt

*         Diagnosed with a mental condition that is frequently
characterized by breaks with reality, or perceptions of reality, that
lead to significant functional impairment involving acts of self-harm or
other behavior that have a seriously adverse effect on life or on mental
or physical health.

*         Diagnosed with an organic brain syndrome that results in
significant functional impairment involving acts of self-harm or other
behavior that have a seriously adverse effect on life or on mental or
physical health.

*         Diagnosed with a severe personality disorder that is
manifested by frequent episodes of psychosis or depression, and results
in a significant functional impairment involving acts of self-harm or
other behavior that have a seriously adverse effect on life or on mental
or physical health.

*         Determined to have substantially deteriorated mentally or
emotionally while confined in segregated confinement and is experiencing
significant functional impairment indicating a diagnosis of serious
mental illness and involving acts of self-harm or other behavior that
have a seriously adverse effect on life or on mental or physical health.

 

What happens to people with serious mental illness who due to
exceptional circumstances are not removed from segregated confinement?  

While in segregated confinement, prisoners with serious mental illness

*         Must be offered out-of-cell treatment and programming for a
minimum of two hours each day, five days a week.  However, this
heightened level of care will not be provided when a mental health
clinician determines that it is not required, or when doing so would
create an unacceptable risk to the safety and security of prisoners or
staff.

*         Must be reassessed within two weeks of the initial assessment
and every two weeks thereafter.  At each reassessment, a mental health
clinician must make a recommendation regarding removal.  

*         Must not be placed on a restricted diet unless the restricted
diet is necessary for reasons of safety and security.

 

Does the law provide any protections for prisoners placed in segregated
confinement and not initially assessed as having a serious mental
illness?

Yes, but it depends on the prison.  At Level 1 and 2 prisons, the
prisoner must be offered an interview with a mental health clinician
within 14 days of the initial assessment and an additional interview at
least every 30 days after that.  At Level 3 and 4 prisons, the prisoner
must be offered an interview with a mental health clinician within 30
days of the initial assessment and an additional interview at least
every 90 days after that.

 

Does the law provide any other benefits to prisoners with mental
illness?

Yes, oversight by an outside agency and training to correction officers
about mental illness.

*         The Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons
with Disabilities must monitor and make recommendations regarding the
quality of prison mental health care and oversee compliance with the SHU
Exclusion Law.  The Commission is required to report on the state's
progress in complying with the law.

*         The Commission must also appoint an advisory committee on
psychiatric correctional care to advise the Commission on its oversight
responsibilities and make recommendations regarding improvements to
prison-based mental health care.

*         New correction officers and other new Corrections staff who
will regularly work in programs providing mental health treatment for
prisoners must receive eight hours of mental health training.
Corrections staff who are transferred into a RMHTU must receive at least
eight additional hours of mental health training and eight hours of
annual training as long as they work on the unit.

 

 

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