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Q&A
Council member Brewer inquires about mental health services and staffing for incarcerated individuals
3:56:57
ยท
3 min
Council Member Gale Brewer questions DOC officials about mental health services for incarcerated individuals, alternative facilities for those with mental illness, and staffing needs for potential new mental health units. DOC representatives provide information on current mental health services and staffing requirements for new facilities, while acknowledging limitations in their knowledge and authority on some aspects of mental health care and diversion programs.
- DOC officials describe current mental health services provided by Correctional Health Services, including mental observation units and specialized programs like PACE and CAPS.
- The department anticipates needing 282 uniform staff members to open the Bellevue OTHU (Off-Site Therapeutic Housing Unit).
- Challenges in staffing and the need for strategic planning are highlighted, along with the requirement for state approval for new facilities.
Gale Brewer
3:56:57
Just quickly as we all know we're trying to get the population down for whenever the new jails are opened.
3:57:04
My question is, for those when I see and go to Rikers, and I appreciate the hospitality of the commissioner when we're there, This is a lot of people who are mentally ill.
3:57:14
So my question is, again, this is not your direct responsibility.
3:57:18
This is a an administrative effort.
3:57:21
But what are we doing to have other, perhaps, locked facilities?
3:57:25
They're not the ones that are at Bellevue.
3:57:28
That's a different kind of person.
3:57:29
That's somebody who's coming from correctional health to Bellevue.
3:57:32
But what are we doing as an administration, if anything, to think of, if necessary, locked facilities in psychiatric, facilities?
3:57:42
Or what is we what kind of psychiatric support do you have now for those who are, at your facility who could then get the help that they need?
3:57:54
Because it's my impression when I am there, and you know better than I, that that's not happening.
3:58:00
I know that's correctional health, that's not you, but it doesn't seem to be happening.
3:58:04
And then finally, when and if those beds are available at Bellevue, what kind of staffing is gonna be necessary, and do you have that staff?
3:58:12
Those are my two questions.
James N. Saunders
3:58:15
Thank you for the question.
3:58:16
Deputy Commissioner James Saunders, Health Affairs Compliance and Quality.
3:58:19
So I'm gonna address part of that question, and that is what are the mental health services currently being provided by our colleagues at Correctional Health Service?
3:58:29
We have mental observation units.
Gale Brewer
3:58:33
I saw it.
James N. Saunders
3:58:34
We also have another unit, units called PACE and CAPS, and so those respective units provide direct hands on treatment by correctional health service providers.
3:58:49
They help address behavioral issues and provide them the clinical support that certain individuals need.
Gale Brewer
3:58:56
How many staff people, what's or if you can get back to us if you have to, what's the cost?
3:59:00
How often do people get seen, etcetera?
James N. Saunders
3:59:03
So I can tell you that CHS has staff that are on those units.
3:59:08
They provide medication on those particular units.
3:59:10
CHS will have to address the cost and the staffing issue.
Gale Brewer
3:59:14
Because you don't know how many people per detainee.
3:59:18
You don't know the cost.
3:59:20
That would not be your bailiwick to know.
James N. Saunders
3:59:23
Correct.
3:59:23
We we don't provide the care and treatment.
Gale Brewer
3:59:25
Alright.
3:59:26
And do you and you wouldn't know what the administration is doing as a whole to try to find diversion, not putting people back on the street, but finding some other alternative, Creedmoor, Ward's Island, I don't know, something else so that they're not ending up at Rikers.
3:59:41
Does anybody have that or is that something that's not your purview?
Lynelle Maginley-Liddie
3:59:45
We don't we don't have any information on that, but I I agree that we we can all work towards that because that is a need considering what the the majority of our what our population looks like.
Gale Brewer
3:59:56
Thank you for admitting that.
3:59:57
And how about the staff that might be needed when and if these beds are available at Bellevue?
4:00:02
This is correctional, slightly different.
4:00:04
Do you know how many people?
4:00:06
And do you have the people to do that?
James Boyd Jr.
4:00:09
Yeah.
4:00:10
It's approximately, we anticipate from our preliminary analysis that we're gonna need 282 staffer, uniform staff members to open Bellevue OTHU.
4:00:19
That's something that's an ongoing conversation as was been alluded to throughout the hearing is that we have staffing challenges, and it's a very staff rich model for a very low population.
4:00:28
Again, we want to open these facilities as well, but we have to do it in a very strategic and smart way where it's not a deficiency on providing, continuing operations on Rikers Island.
4:00:39
So we're going to continue to have these conversations with the administration as well as CHS to figure out what's a reasonable timeline, one, for completion of construction and then actually open it because it is a two part process.
Gale Brewer
4:00:51
And I heard you need the state sign off also plus the staffing plus everything else.
4:00:55
Alright.
4:00:56
Thank you.