Written by Jacob Kay
Over the past decade, Rikers Island has had two distinct populations more than any other: detainees diagnosed with mental health problems and detainees charged with violent felonies. A new report has found that the number has increased.
In a study released Tuesday by the Independent Budget Office, the IBO said Rikers Island experienced a similar population explosion over the past decade, which the report described as a “period of great instability.” The group said it was the only group in need of psychological care. People facing health treatment and the most extreme crimes.
Not only do these groups now represent a much larger portion of the city's prison population than they did a decade ago, they also remain in prison much longer on average.
“The composition of DOC prisons has changed dramatically,” the report says. “Two groups in particular make up a much larger proportion of the DOC population than before: those charged with the most serious criminal charges and those identified by the DOC as needing mental health treatment.” is.”
The new data comes as the future of Rikers Island remains uncertain, due in large part to its population, officials say.
The total prison population, approximately 6,200 as of February 2024, is not only too large to move to the 4,160 beds currently planned for prisons in the city's four boroughs, but Mayor Eric Adams and his administration has been criticized by advocates and groups. Lawmakers have made little effort to reduce the prison population by addressing the lack of programs and mental health treatment.
In fact, the Adams administration recently revealed that it plans to reduce the number of mental health and substance abuse treatment beds available to detainees in unbuilt borough prison facilities to create more space for the public. I made it. population housing. The mental health bed reductions, first reported by Gothamist, come as part of a larger effort to increase the number of borough-based facilities by about 1,000 beds.
Initially, facilities in Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan were scheduled to hold a combined 3,300 detainees.
In 2014, when Rikers' population hovered around 10,000 people, about 37 percent of the population had a mental health diagnosis, according to the IBO.
They currently make up about 51 percent of the prison population, according to the IBO report.
The demographic change was even more pronounced among people charged with violent felonies.
In 2014, about 17 percent of people in pretrial detention at Rikers were charged with violent felonies. In 2023, 46 percent of the Riker population had been charged with violent felonies.
And while the two groups have grown to represent large portions of Rikers' population, they operate separately. According to the IBO, because people living with mental illness are less likely to be charged with violent felonies than those without mental illness, “these two groups tend to “It is not caused by the same stay in the country.” .
These two groups now represent a disproportionate number of the total prison population, meaning that the length of stay for the average detainee has also increased.
“While stays of less than a month still make up the majority of stays, people are generally staying longer on average,” the IBO said in its report.
According to the report, the proportion of stays of one month or more will increase from 31% ten years ago to 42% in 2023.
The average length of stay in 2014 was 55 days, according to the report. In 2023, the average length of stay has jumped to just over 100 days.
The report said an increase in the proportion of violent felonies in the prison population and those with mental health diagnoses likely influenced the increase in average length of stay. Those facing violent felonies tend to be held longer on Rikers charges than those with lesser charges, and those with mental health issues are held longer than those without a diagnosis. There is a tendency to
The average length of stay for violent felonies in 2023 was 144 days, compared to 125 days for the same population in 2014, according to the report. In 2023, people charged with non-violent felonies spent an average of 88 days in jail, and people charged with misdemeanors spent an average of about 40 days in jail.
A similar increase was seen in people with mental health problems.
In 2014, detainees identified as having mental health problems were held for an average of 88 days, according to the report. In 2023, people were detained for just under twice that amount of time, on average around 146 days.
The Adams administration plans to reduce the number of psychiatric beds in the borough's prisons, which are not expected to be built until at least 2029, two years after the legally mandated deadline to close Rikers Island. The administration made the announcement earlier this month. He said construction would begin on several outpost treatment housing units for detainees.
According to the Mayor's Office, the NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull and North Central Bronx units are designed to accommodate “inmates with serious medical, mental health, and substance use needs who would benefit from a more structured clinical environment.” “Accommodate''. Both are scheduled to be completed by summer 2027.
Similarly, construction is currently underway for a mental health department at New York City Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and is expected to be completed by spring 2025.
Together, the three units will have approximately 360 beds.
