The abuse, neglect, and tragic lack of foresight in that system is emblematic of a problem that exists throughout this country. This is not just about a handful of seriously mentally ill prisoners in the U.S. Thomas, if these seriously ill men and women are released untreated.”
But, Balaban cautions, “This will require a new mindset-one that sees that torturing the seriously mentally ill through neglect not only places their lives at risk, but endangers the officers who work at that jail, and the citizens on St. He points out that there is a new judge presiding in the case and a newly appointed Bureau of Corrections director who shows some sense of urgency to fix the life-threatening problems. territory to be under a court order to protect its most vulnerable prisoners for more than two decades, yet nothing changes. I asked Balaban how it’s possible for a U.S. … Incident reports and logbooks continue to reflect the use of use physical force, steel restraints and lock down for persons with serious mental illness-almost always without consultation from mental health to de-escalate situations and often without notifying mental health staff even after the fact to determine whether a treatment intervention would be helpful.” Burns concluded at the time that the government had failed to comply with every mental health provision, more than 60 in all, in the settlement agreement it entered into a year earlier. Actual therapeutic treatment space for individual and group interventions is lacking. Burns, who had assessed the same facilities a year earlier, noted that despite her earlier recommendations, “No medical or mental health care policies or procedures had been adopted.” She writes: “There is no appropriate safe housing for mentally ill inmates or those requiring placement on suicide precautions. It makes for chilling reading and paints a picture that evokes Victorian-era brutality. As a community, we have earned an F-minus in the care and services we provide to the mentally ill.” A year later, almost nothing has changed.Ī new expert report was filed in August in this same class-action suit by the court-appointed psychiatrist, Kathryn Burns. 27: “It is no secret that this territory has taken a backward step on the issue of mental health, leaving those who need care to walk the streets, languish in our prisons, or enter the revolving door of a criminal justice system that is ill-prepared to address their needs. Virgin Islands, Kenneth Mapp, declared in his State of the Territory address on Jan. By February 27, 2007, however, the defendants still had not taken any action on the order. In March 2006, the court ordered territory officials to move the NGRIs to a psychiatric forensic facility. After returning to ACF they began to deteriorate and again became a threat to themselves and others. While at JLH the NGRIs’ conditions improved drastically one was even recommended to be discharged. In January 2006, the NGRIs were moved back to without notice to the court or class counsel. On the eve of a February 2005 contempt hearing, the NGRI patients were transferred to a psychiatric unit at the Juan E. Territory officials have since promised the court that they were near completion of their own forensic facility. While they made inquiries with a few facilities, they made no actual transfers despite a Puerto Rico facility agreeing to accept two of the NGRIs. First, territory officials said they were seeking a psychiatric facility outside the Island because no adequate facility existed on the Island. What has transpired since can only be described as more than three years of subterfuge and unfulfilled promises.
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