A07193 Summary:
BILL NO | A07193 |
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SAME AS | No Same As |
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SPONSOR | Dilan |
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COSPNSR | Aubry, Burgos |
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MLTSPNSR | |
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Amd 137, Cor L | |
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Relates to the removal of incarcerated individuals diagnosed with mental illness to a residential mental health treatment unit. |
A07193 Actions:
BILL NO | A07193 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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05/12/2023 | referred to correction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
01/03/2024 | referred to correction |
A07193 Memo:
Go to topNEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)   BILL NUMBER: A7193 SPONSOR: Dilan
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the correction law, in relation to the removal of incar- cerated individuals diagnosed with mental illness to a residential mental health treatment unit   PURPOSE: To keep seriously mentally ill incarcerated individuals out of solitary confinement once they have been diagnosed with a qualifying mental illness.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 amends Correction Law § 137(6) (d)(i). Section 2 amends Correction Law § 137(6)(e)(i). Section 3 provides an effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: When an incarcerated individual with serious mental illness moves through the correctional system, he or she sees different mental health providers in different facilities and may have differing severity of symptoms at different times. An incarcerated individual who has a mental disorder that qualifies him or her to be excluded from solitary confine- ment housing units under State law may lose the qualifying diagnosis because of a change in treatment providers, a beneficial response to drugs or therapy, or a period of relative mental stability or lack of symptoms. Additionally, when a person with a long-standing diagnosis in the community first comes into prison, prison-based treatment providers may not take his or her previous mental health records into account or agree with the community providers diagnosis, and may misdiagnose the incarcerated individual or fail to recognize mental health symptoms that are cyclical in nature. Incarcerated individuals who have Axis I mental health disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder or other severe mental illnesses are prone to relapse, vulnerable to stress and are very likely to find them- selves in violation of DOCCS rules concerning incarcerated individual behavior during periods of active mental illness. If such incarcerated individuals are not protected by law, they will often wind up in disci- plinary confinement in special housing units where they are locked in their cells 23 hours a day, cannot phone home, have limited property, cannot attend programs or religious services, and are generally locked down without stabilizing support systems. Being labeled as "seriously mentally ill" in the prison system means that an incarcerated individual cannot be placed in a solitary confine- ment unit for more than thirty days but must be placed instead in a residential mental health treatment unit when he or she misbehaves and incurs a disciplinary sanction. The purpose of this bills to ensure that incarcerated individuals with qualifying diagnoses, whether made by OM11 prison-based staff or community mental health providers, will not be downgraded from the "seriously mentally ill" status that guarantees they will serve any disciplinary sanctions in a treatment unit rather in than solitary confinement. The bill provides that such incarcerated individuals will go to treat- ment units even if they have been removed from the OMB caseload or had their diagnosis changed by a later psychiatrist to a non-qualifying diagnosis. It does not affect the ability of the treatment provider to change the diagnosis, but simply protects such vulnerable incarcerated individuals from being placed in long term solitary confinement. People with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder do not get cured, but with treatment, care and flexibility they can often manage their mental illnesses. Such management is not possible in solitary confinement.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 01/31/17 referred to correction 01/03/18 referred to correction 01/05/2022 Passed the Assembly   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Unknown but appropriate mental health treatment should save the state money in the long run. Additionally, there are currently vacant beds in the treatment units, and with the settlement in Peoples v. Fischer, fewer incarcerated individuals should have long SHU sanctions, freeing up more treatment beds.   EFFECTIVE DATE: 30 days after the bill becomes law.
A07193 Text:
Go to top STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7193 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 12, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DILAN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Correction AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to the removal of incar- cerated individuals diagnosed with mental illness to a residential mental health treatment unit The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subparagraph (i) of paragraph d of subdivision 6 of section 2 137 of the correction law, as separately amended by chapters 93 and 322 3 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows: 4 (i) Except as set forth in clause (E) of subparagraph (ii) of this 5 paragraph, the department, in consultation with mental health clini- 6 cians, shall divert or remove an incarcerated [individuals] individual 7 who at any time has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, as 8 defined in subparagraphs (i), (iii), (iv) and (v) of paragraph (e) of 9 this subdivision, from segregated confinement or confinement in a resi- 10 dential rehabilitation unit, where such confinement could potentially be 11 for a period in excess of thirty days, to a residential mental health 12 treatment unit. Nothing in this paragraph shall be deemed to prevent the 13 disciplinary process from proceeding in accordance with department rules 14 and regulations for disciplinary hearings. 15 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 16 have become a law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01122-01-3