Hundreds of mentally ill people are routinely trapped on Rikers Island for months at a time without court-ordered treatment they need to stand trial, a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday afternoon by the city\u2019s largest public defender organization charges.<\/p>\n
The New York State Office of Mental Health and top city jail officials repeatedly flout judges\u2019 orders to provide \u201ccompetency restoration\u201d \u2014 psychiatric treatment and legal education meant to help defendants understand their cases, the 35-page lawsuit<\/a> filed in Manhattan federal court alleges.<\/p>\n In February, THE CITY reported<\/a> at least 127 people found by psychiatrists to be unfit to stand trial were languishing in Rikers jails because of a lack of space at state-run mental health facilities.<\/p>\n The Legal Aid Society, alongside the NYU School of Law\u2019s Civil Rights in the Criminal Legal System Clinic, filed the lawsuit, citing data from THE CITY report.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done administrative advocacy. We\u2019ve done individual advocacy for particular clients, and that doesn\u2019t get at a systemic change,\u201d said Elena Landriscina, a supervising attorney in Legal Aid\u2019s Special Litigation Unit and one of the lead attorneys on the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople should not be languishing in jail, particularly at Rikers Island, where we know it\u2019s very dangerous for anyone, but particularly for people with psychiatric disabilities,\u201d she added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On any given day, the suit says, roughly 114 people are stuck on Rikers awaiting a transfer for competency restoration. Median wait times hit 81 days last year \u2014 with some detainees waiting nine months, according to the legal filing. In 2024, 130 New Yorkers endured waits of more than 100 days.<\/p>\n The plaintiffs \u2014 two men with severe mental illnesses \u2014 each spent over four months in jail without receiving the treatment a judge had ordered, the lawsuit said. They\u2019d both been living in the community prior to their arrest and could have been treated in outpatient programs, the suit claims.<\/p>\n In some cases, the plaintiffs argue, the delays can be deadly.\u00a0<\/p>\n About half of the 59 people who have died in city jails since mid-2021 had some type of psychiatric need, including five who were supposed to be in competency restoration programs, according to the filing.<\/p>\n The lawsuit blames a \u201cdysfunctional and deficient\u201d system that overwhelmingly relies on overcrowded, high-security state-run hospitals while failing to assess whether defendants could be safely treated in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n It alleges the delays disproportionately harm Black and Latino New Yorkers, who are overrepresented both in the jail system and among those deemed unfit to stand trial.<\/p>\n Despite a 2012 state law allowing outpatient restoration via mandated counseling and support classes, 99.3% of felony defendants were treated in secure hospitals between 2013 and June 2023, according to the lawsuit. The state\u2019s outpatient program can handle fewer than 15 people at a time and often leaves them waiting weeks for even an initial appointment, the suit says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been almost no effort to build the infrastructure for outpatient restoration,\u201d Landriscina said. \u201cEveryone is just shunted toward the same overburdened state hospitals, even when community care would be more appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n