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Mental Health


COMMUNITY EDUCATION

SCHEDULE A TRAINING

To schedule a training with the Mental Health Project, please leave a message on our toll-free hotline 1-877-MHPLAW1 (877-647-5291) and we will return your call as soon as possible. We provide trainings for advocates and mental health consumers in the following areas: health insurance, psychiatric discharge planning from jails, discharge planning from psychiatric units, family court for parents with mental illness, and Social Security / SSI. Trainings are provided in English only.

FUGITIVE FELON INFORMATION PACKET

PDF This packet was originally designed for the 2008 National Legal Aid & Defender Association Conference in Washington, DC, and outlines the Fugitive Felon program and how to represent clients who have been misidentified and disenfranchised due to this program.

INFORMATION ON MENTAL HEALTH ALTERNATIVES TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT (MHASC)

MHASC is a coalition of more than sixty organizations and hundreds of concerned citizens, advocates, mental health professionals, formerly incarcerated people and their family members, working to end the cruel practice of placing people with psychiatric disabilities in solitary confinement.

While MHASC has achieved success by convincing former Governor Spitzer to sign the amended SHU Bill in early 2008, there is much work to be done.

  • The newly enacted law requires that people with psychiatric disabilities be diverted from solitary confinement into residential treatment units if confined for longer than 30 days. Unfortunately, this does not have to be fully implemented until 2011.
  • The new law also gives the New York State Department of Correctional Services and the Office of Mental Health (OMH) discretion to determine whether "exceptional circumstances" justify keeping an individual with psychiatric disabilities in solitary confinement. Because removal is not mandatory, but instead depends upon the judgment of New York State Department of Correctional Services and OMH staff, monitoring by an outside agency is critical.

MHASC is committed to ensuring that the new law leads to real reform for prisoners with psychiatric disabilities.

We invite you to get involved! The MHASC Organizing Committee meets every two weeks to organize around ending the placement of people with psychiatric disabilities in solitary confinement. Our meetings are also a space for formerly incarcerated people and their family members to provide support to one another.

To find out about the next meeting, please call Alexandra Smith at 646-602-5683.


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  • 123 William Street 16th Floor New York, NY, 10038
  • Phone: 646.602.5600
  • Fax: 212.533.4598