Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Mental health challenges in NYC jails
0:08:51
ยท
91 sec
Dr. Stossel discusses the major mental health challenges in NYC jails, highlighting that jails are unsuitable environments for individuals with mental illness.
- She advocates for alternative settings that prioritize treatment for mentally ill individuals who commit crimes.
- Dr. Stossel emphasizes the need to improve treatment access within the current jail system.
- She also mentions the importance of creating an environment that is less likely to cause mental illness in individuals who don't enter with pre-existing conditions.
Keith Powers
0:08:51
Thanks.
0:08:51
And in your experience working inside of our city jails, can you talk to us what, especially on the mental health needs, what you see as today are the biggest challenges inside of our city jails and potentially how you might on the board use your power to help resolve those?
Dr. Lauren Stossel
0:09:09
I think jail is one of the worst places to be if you're mentally ill.
0:09:14
I think really people who have serious mental illness who commit crimes ideally should be in other settings where treatment is prioritized.
0:09:23
So you know that that was something that was really outside the scope of what I was doing when I was at CHS but would be something that I would want to continue to advocate for.
0:09:32
I think there is a lot more that we could be doing within the jail system now to make sure that people with serious mental illness are getting more treatment and are housed in areas where their access to treatment is improved.
0:09:50
And I think there's also a lot that we can do to make jail in general an environment that is less likely to create de novo mental illness and people who are not coming in with serious mental illness just to make it a place that is less violent and more respectful and encourages people to act in ways that are sort of in keeping with their best selves rather than reacting to daily trauma.