PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Nadia Chait, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES)
3:13:25
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106 sec
Nadia Chait testified in support of several bills, particularly Intro 423, Intro 412, and Intro 1036. She emphasized the importance of recognizing the humanity of incarcerated individuals and their communities, and highlighted the need for reform in the 730 process for mental health evaluations.
- Strongly supported Intro 412 and 423, which aim to improve notification procedures and recognize the humanity of incarcerated individuals
- Focused on Intro 1036, which addresses transparency in the 730 process for mental health evaluations
- Criticized delays in competency exams, noting that individuals often wait months at Rikers, leading to deteriorating mental health and a cycle of repeated evaluations
Nadia Chait
3:13:25
Thank you, Shareowners.
3:13:27
We support the array of bills here today, but I wanna highlight our support for intro 423, intro 412, and intro 1036.
3:13:36
There's really nothing I could say.
3:13:37
I think on 412-423 that would be more powerful than the stories that we heard today.
3:13:42
But these are bills that take basic basic steps to recognize the humanity of the people who are in custody and the communities that care for them.
3:13:51
It should not require legislation to make this happen, but it clearly does, and so we strongly support both bills.
3:13:57
But I'll focus my remarks on intro 1036.
3:14:00
We work closely at cases with people who have court involvement and serious mental illness and the 7:30 process is broken and deeply in need of reform.
3:14:09
This bill takes a basic step to increase transparency for a process that we know is far too slow.
3:14:15
I think it's particularly critical.
3:14:18
The portions of the bill that focus on getting public reporting on the delays in getting individuals their competency exams.
3:14:24
There's simply no reason that individuals should be sitting on Rutgers for months at a time while their mental health is worsening.
3:14:31
To get a basic evaluation so that they can either get the care that they need to be restored to competency or have their case proceed if they're already deemed fit.
3:14:40
We know that as individuals are sitting, their mental health gets worse, and often create situations where, unfortunately, individuals are cycling through having a 7:30 deck examination, being declared not fit, going to a psychiatric facility, going back to Rutgers, having their case delayed again and simply repeating the process in many cases for years.
3:15:01
That's in basic violation of individual's rights.
3:15:03
It does nothing to serve justice, and it does nothing to make our city safer.
3:15:07
We strongly support this bill, and I appreciate the opportunity to testify today.
