"People in a New York prison's mental health unit are kept in their cells 24 hours a day, with the exception of an occasional "callout," and denied therapeutic services, according to a lawsuit filed this week by Disability Rights New York and Prisoners' Legal Services of New York against New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), among others."
"State regulations mandate that people in the RMHU are offered seven hours of out-of-cell time each day - four hours of therapeutic programming and/or mental health treatment, and three hours for group programming, services, treatment, recreation and/or meals. "Now, sixteen years after its opening, Defendants are operating the Marcy RMHU in precisely the same manner as the segregated confinement housing units it was created to redress," the lawsuit states."
A lawsuit filed by Disability Rights New York and Prisoners' Legal Services of New York alleges that people in Marcy Correctional Facility's Residential Mental Health Unit (RMHU) are confined to their cells 24 hours a day with only occasional callouts and are denied therapeutic and medical mental health treatment. The RMHU was opened more than 15 years ago after prior litigation claiming isolation and lack of services. State regulations require seven hours of out-of-cell time daily—four hours of therapeutic programming and three hours for group programming, services, recreation, treatment, or meals—but the suit alleges the unit operates like segregated confinement.
Read at Truthout
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