Relates to holding inmates that suffer from mental illness for emergency purposes

BILL NUMBER:S5763

Title of bill

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to holding inmates that suffer from mental illness for emergency purposes

Purpose

To permit mentally ill inmates to remain at the Central New York Psychiatric Center for needed in-patient treatment at the discretion of their clinical mental health providers.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 amends subdivision 9 of section 402 of the correction law to permit in-patient psychiatric hospitalization at the Central New York Psychiatric Center at the discretion of mental health providers upon consent of the inmate.

Section 2 provides for an effective date.

Justification

State prisoners in need of emergency in-patient mental health treatment are sent to Central New York Psychiatric Center. Involuntary in-patient treatment commonly occurs when an inmate has made a serious suicide attempt or is exhibiting full-blown psychosis or other symptoms of severe mental illness. Once the emergency for which an inmate was admitted has resolved, he or she is sent back to prison. Some inmates cycle back to Central New York Psychiatric Center on an almost regular schedule; they stabilize in the hospital at which point they are discharged, their mental state deteriorates again in prison, and they are sent to Central New York Psychiatric Center for emergency mental health treatment. At times the precipitating incident for involuntary admission is a major disturbance, creating risk of injury to staff and other inmates.

Inmates exhibiting dangerous or erratic behaviors due to their mental illness present a management problem and a security risk to correctional facilities. For some such inmates longer periods of hospitalization may be the most effective way to treat them so that they can maintain stability. In those cases, at the discretion of the Central New York Psychiatric Center clinicians, it may be preferable to keep an inmate in the psychiatric hospital under intensive management for a longer period of time after the immediate crisis for which he or she was admitted is over in order to provide more comprehensive in-patient mental health treatment. This change in the statute provides a mechanism for the mental health staff at Central New York Psychiatric Center to exercise their clinical judgment and keep an inmate who has been admitted for emergency mental health care for a longer course of treatment when the inmate consents to such treatment under existing mental hygiene law.

Fiscal implications

None, as the inmates will require intensive mental health treatment wherever they are placed.

Effective date

Thirty days after the act becomes law.