In September 1958, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed with a 7-inch steel letter opener. He was signing copies of his first book at Blumstein’s department store in Harlem. The woman who stabbed him was named Isola Ware Curry.
When Dr. King learned that she had schizophrenia, he had no ill will toward her, and instead said, Don’t be a threat to anyone. ”
Old accounts aside, Dr. King recognized that people in crisis need mental health care to stay healthy and safe. Today, many Isolaware Currys living in New York are far more likely to be thrown in jail or relegated to street corners or subway stations than receive comprehensive treatment. This disconnect can create fertile ground for people with mental illness to become both victims and perpetrators of actual violence.
Mental illness is not a crime, and prison is not the solution for people with mental illness. We must respond to the needs of people in crisis with treatment and support. For that we need more funds.
Albany lawmakers are currently in the final stages of state budget negotiations. Gov. Cathy Hochul and Senate and Assembly leaders have made significant investments in mental health care, especially for struggling New Yorkers who pose a potential danger to themselves or others. We have to do a good job of supporting them. By doing so now, we can reduce the number of assaults in our city by people experiencing a mental health crisis. We can also ensure that if these people commit a crime, they are held accountable in a way that reduces recidivism.
Approximately half of the 3,000 men and women in New York City prisons have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness. Every day, hundreds of people wait for tests or beds in declining state psychiatric hospitals. On a typical day in Manhattan criminal court, people suffering from mental illness are caught in a cycle of recidivism and incarceration without receiving treatment, medication, or other services that would allow them to live healthy, productive lives. You’ll get to see what happens. .
And it’s not just New York. In the United States, people with severe mental illnesses are more likely to encounter law enforcement than receive treatment, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. Since the 1950s, when King narrowly escaped death, the number of psychiatric beds in state hospitals has declined by about 94 percent. In many cases, jails and prisons filled the void. While incarceration in large-scale psychiatric facilities is far from perfect, to say the least, meaningful community-based alternatives have never materialized.
Currently, correctional facilities across the country serve as de facto mental health hospitals, and approximately 63 percent of people with a history of mental illness do not receive treatment while incarcerated in state and federal prisons.
But the failing mental health system is most evident in New York City.
Desperate scenes of people in obvious distress are common on subway platforms, city parks, and busy street corners. Although overall crime is down, the city continues to witness horrific acts of violence and alarming incidents of disorder. It’s a city-wide nightmare when innocent people are thrown in front of oncoming trains. Women are afraid of being randomly beaten while walking on the street. This is a humanitarian disaster and a public health and safety crisis.
We must do better for people with real and complex mental health needs, and for all New Yorkers who are worried about their safety right now. However, achieving a comprehensive mental health system will not happen overnight.
Over the past few years, I’ve committed $9 million to two programs: Neighborhood Navigators and Court Navigators. In both programs, people with lived experience, called “navigators,” guide struggling neighbors through the complexities of social services. This is a start, but more is needed.
This year’s state budget is another opportunity to continue building New York’s mental health infrastructure. My office has submitted a detailed proposal to Albany leaders outlining urgently needed mental health investments this year. Unless we take organized action, New Yorkers will continue to face desperate situations every day and be at risk of becoming victims of shocking, but not surprising, acts of arbitrary violence. It will be.
Most directly related to the work of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, I have asked Albany to invest at least $25 million to expand and strengthen New York’s problem-solving courts.such a court It offers exactly the treatment options Dr. King might have wanted for his attackers, but that didn’t exist at the time. In exchange for pleading guilty, participants will be offered court-supervised treatment rather than incarceration.
If they follow the treatment plan and avoid rearrest (usually 18 to 24 months), their felony charges can be reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed. One mental health court found a 46 percent reduction in the chance of rearrest.
I also urge Albany leaders to fund community-based mental health treatment and provide $16.3 million for 20 new teams to provide support to justice workers with severe mental illness. I invested. Similar efforts have been shown to reduce overall recidivism rates.
For people who cannot safely transition from incarceration to community treatment, Hope House, which recently broke ground in the Bronx, will soon provide a safe and humane alternative to the Rikers Island prison facility with 24-hour security and treatment. We plan to provide this service. The state will need to commit $30 million in capital funding to expand the Hope House model.
Supportive housing provides essential stability for people with mental illness who have been justice-involved. Thousands of people returning to New York City from state prisons go straight to shelters. Homelessness increases the risk of incarceration, which in turn increases the risk of homelessness. To break this cycle, the City of Albany should invest in the construction of 500 new reentry apartments over the next three years and expand existing housing programs for people released from city jails.
Since I took office, we have made significant progress in combating murders and mass shootings in Manhattan, but the rise in serious crime remains a persistent challenge. Prevention-oriented investments are critical to reversing the rise in random assaults against people with untreated mental illness since COVID-19. Policing has little deterrent effect on crimes committed by people experiencing mental health crises.
After facing death at the hands of Isola Ware Curry, Dr. King recognized that treatment is the best way to keep people with mental illness and those around them safe. As assaults like the one Dr. King suffered become more common, Albany’s leaders must heed Dr. King’s call today and invest in a comprehensive mental health network.
Now is the time to take action to address the mental health emergency.
