People in NY Prison's Mental Health Unit Kept in Solitary Confinement, Suit Says

Date:  09-14-2025 In recent months, at least two people on the unit have attempted suicide and at least three have gone on hunger strike

From Truthout: People in a New York prison’s mental health unit are kept in their cells 24 hours a day, with the exception of an occasional “callout,” and denied therapeutic services, according to a lawsuit filed this week by Disability Rights New York and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York against New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), among others. “Defendants are knowingly depriving individuals in the Residential Mental Health Unit (“RMHU”) at Marcy Correctional Facility (“Marcy”) of all out-of-cell programming and mental health and medical treatment and keeping them almost entirely isolated,” the lawsuit states. The unit was opened more than 15 years ago in response to a lawsuit filed by Disability Advocates, Inc., Prisoners’ Legal Services, and others, which alleged that people with serious mental illness were kept in isolation and denied mental health services, the same conditions that allegedly exist today. Continue reading >>>