Hundreds of mentally ill detainees who were found unfit to stand trial are languishing in New York City’s jails because the state has been too slow in moving them through its byzantine treatment system, a public defender organization said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Under New York State law, people who are too mentally ill to understand the charges against them and aid in their own defense are supposed to be restored to competency in a hospital operated by the state Office of Mental Health before their legal proceedings can continue.
But bed and staffing shortages at the hospitals have led to long delays in people receiving the care, leaving them to linger amid disorder and dangerous conditions on Rikers Island, the suit said. A class action, it was filed by the Legal Aid Society and a New York University law clinic in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
More than half the people in city custody are mentally ill, records show, and on any given day about 100 people are held on Rikers Island while awaiting transfer to be restored to competency, the suit said.
The average wait time for a bed is about two and a half months, the suit said. Some wait longer: In 2024, 130 people spent more than 100 days on waiting lists for the treatment.
In some cases, the long delays have proved fatal. At least five people who have died after being held on Rikers Island since 2021 had been ordered to be restored to competency, the suit said.
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The post Mentally Ill Detainees Are Trapped in Legal Limbo, Lawsuit Says appeared first on New York Times.
