| In
1846, the New York State Legislature passed a law
granting the Correctional Association of New York
the authority to visit prisons throughout the state
and to issue reports of findings on conditions
to policymakers. The
Prison Visiting Project is the arm of the Correctional
Association that carries out this unique legislative
authority. Each month, the Correctional Association
visits one of New York’s 70 state correctional
facilities, branching out to all corners of the
prison including cellblocks and dormitories, classrooms
and industry shops, psychiatric units, medical clinics,
protective custody and disciplinary housing. We
interview inmates, correction officers, teachers, counselors
and medical staff. We communicate our findings
to facility superintendents in debriefing sessions at
the end of the visit and through written reports copied
to the Commissioner of Department of Correctional Services
(DOCS) and high-level state policymakers. The
Prison Visiting Project (PVP) devotes its resources
to the following areas:
- In-depth
Issue Reports—Conducting studies
on specific corrections issues
and publishing comprehensive reports of findings
and recommendations.
- Policy
Development—Working with legislators,
corrections officials, former prisoners,
service providers and community organizations
to develop more humane prison policies.
- Raising
Awareness—Educating the public
about prison conditions, the
high cost of incarceration and the need for alternatives.
[back
to top] Prison
Monitoring Facility Reports Prisons
are public institutions that are largely hidden
from public view. Utilizing the Correctional Association’s
special authority, each month
the Prison Visiting Committee travels to a different
New York State prison to observe conditions
and learn about the facility from inmates and
staff. The Committee is composed of members of
the staff and board of the Correctional Association,
experts in corrections and in medical and mental
health care, former prisoners who have completed
their parole and concerned citizens. After each
visit, PVP writes detailed reports to inform policymakers,
the prison administration and the public
about its findings. The reports focus on areas
such as medical and mental health care, educational
and vocational programs, inmate jobs, relations
among inmates and staff, the physical state
of a facility and other issues of concern to
the individuals who live and work behind the prison
walls. The
following facility reports from visits from 2004 to the present are now available: Attica
Auburn
Clinton
Coxsackie
Eastern
Elmira
Fishkill
Gowanda
Great Meadow NEW
Green Haven
Oneida NEW
Sullivan NEW
Mid-Orange
Upstate
Wyoming NEW Prison monitoring reports from the Women in Prison Project
State of the Prisons 2002-03: Conditions of Confinement
in 14 New York State Correctional Facilities The
Prison Visiting Project conducted 14 monitoring
visits to prisons in 2002 and 2003. The State
of the Prisons report presents an overview of the
findings from these visits, and makes recommendations
for system-wide improvements in prison conditions.
Additionally, the document includes detailed
monitoring reports from each of the visits. The
report concludes that, although there are some
model programs and well-run facilities in the state
prison system, there are many troubling problems
that require state policymakers’ attention.
Specifically, the system fails to meet the
needs of the majority of inmates with mental
illness; disciplinary confinement is overused,
harsh and sometimes ineffective; and, there are
too few programs in which inmates can engage in
constructive activities. View the 2001
State of the Prisons report,
which contains detailed findings and reports from
visits to 25 prisons conducted between 1998 and
2001. [back
to top]
In-Depth
Issue Reports
Mental
Health in the House of Corrections: A Study of
Mental Health Care in New York State Prisons With
the assistance of mental health experts, the
Prison Visiting Project conducted a two year study
of the quality of care for inmates suffering from
mental illness. Approximately 11% of New York State's
prison population is on the Office of Mental Health
(OMH) caseload and 3,200 inmates have a major mental
disorder. Through surveys and structured interviews
with over 400 inmates, correction officers, prison
psychologists and officials, expert chart reviews
and a literature review, PVP analyzed the adequacy
of current mental health resources and the impact
incarceration is having on the health and safety
of inmates with mental illness. The
report found that correction officers are poorly
trained to work effectively with prisoners with
mental illness, there are insufficient mental health
staff and resources to meet system-wide needs,
and psychotropic medications are the most common
form of treatment, rather than individual therapy.
Additionally, inmates with mental illness face
high rates of victimization in the general population,
and they are disproportionately represented in
disciplinary segregation, where their mental status
deteriorates resulting in high rates of self-harm
and suicide. The
report also found that the Intermediate Care Program
within prisons and Central New York Psychiatric
Center provide high quality services to inmates
with mental illness, and recommended their expansion,
as they treat only a fraction of the population
in need. The report urged increasing mental health
staff, expanding outpatient and residential mental
health programs, improving the discharge planning
process, and providing additional training to correctional
staff to maintain positive interactions with inmates
with mental illness. Lockdown
New York: Disciplinary Confinement in New York
State Prisons PVP
conducted a three-year evaluation of conditions
in Special Housing Units (SHUs), prisons within
prisons where inmates are locked down 23 hours
a day and deprived of programs, human interaction,
fresh air and sunlight. Since 1998, New York has
embarked on the largest expansion of disciplinary
confinement in state history, adding over 3,000
SHU beds to the system. The
report’s principal findings were that
rates of suicide and self-harm in the
SHUs are significantly higher than in the general
population, that inmates with mental illness
are more often placed in the SHU and face longer
sentences than those without mental illness,
and that the punitive disciplinary measures in
SHUs are inhumane and ineffective. The report
made a series of recommendations, including the
creation of an oversight board to monitor conditions
in disciplinary lockdown, the removal of inmates
with serious mental illness from SHUs and their
placement in residential treatment programs,
and the institution of measures to curb suicides
and acts of self-harm. Health
Care in New York State Prisons: A Report of Findings
and Recommendations In
2000, the Correctional Association completed a
three-year study of health care in New York State
prisons. This investigative effort included interviews
with over 1,300 inmates and 100 prison medical
personnel at 22 men’s
and women’s facilities. The
findings revealed a mixed picture: significant
improvements have been made in recent years,
in some cases producing dramatic results; however,
systemic problems continue to compromise the
delivery of prisoner health care. Specifically,
there have been notable improvements in the treatment
and testing of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and
there are some model facilities that provide
exceptional health care to inmates. The
report found, however, that significant problems
compromise the delivery of healthcare to inmates,
including a lack of external oversight of DOCS’ healthcare
facilities, poorly paid and underqualified
medical staff and insufficient discharge planning.
The report’s
recommendations included instituting a system
of oversight for medical care in prisons, increasing
compensation, training and qualifications for
medical staff and creating systems for ensuring
that care is accessible to former inmates upon
release. [back
to top] Policy
Development The
Prison Visiting Project works closely with corrections
officials, the state legislature and coalitions
of service providers, community organizations and
former prisoners to promote policies that will
lead to a more humane and effective prison system.
Current legislative priorities include: Health
Care – Quality
health care in prisons is good public health
policy. Unfortunately, there are extensive problems
with the provision of health care in New York State’s
correctional facilities. Along with the Legislative
Action Coalition for Public Health (LACPH), PVP
is calling for the passage of four bills that
would help to address these problems, improving
the inmates’ health,
as well as that of the families and communities
where they will return.
- A.3544
requires Department of Health oversight of HIV,
AIDS and Hepatitis C treatment in correctional
facilities. The bill passed the Assembly in May
2005 and was referred to the Senate.
- A.3568
gives the Department of Health jurisdiction over
all prison health care facilities.
- A.3924
requires officials of New York State prisons and
local jails to file Medicaid applications for inmates
prior to their release from prison, preventing
a potentially hazardous gap in medical and mental
health care.
- A.3720
and S.3048 require correctional facilities to develop
programs to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases.
Mental
Illness and the SHU – The New York
State 2005-06 Budget allocates
$13 million for the creation of additional beds
for inmates with mental illness, including those
confined in Special Housing Units (SHUs), where
prisoners are locked in small cells for 23 hours
each day with limited access to treatment, educational
programs and social interaction. Subjecting inmates
with mental illness to these oppressive conditions
routinely results in deterioration of their mental
state and fosters behavior that is self-destructive
and aggressive. As a member of the Mental Health
Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (MHASC) coalition,
PVP is calling for the removal of all inmates with
mental illness from SHUs and using the $13 million
to establish residential treatment programs for
this population. A.3926 and S.2207 will prevent
the isolation of inmates with mental
illness in segregated housing units,
require the development of additional
residential mental health treatment
programs, and provide training
to officers so that they can recognize
mental illness and develop the
skills to communicate with and
constructively interact with inmates
with mental illness. A.3926 passed
the Assembly in June 2005. [back
to top] For
more information, contact Jack Beck, Director of
the Prison Visiting Project, at (212) 254-5700,
ext. 310, or email
the Correctional Association.
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