LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY

The Mental Health Project lobbies the city and state governments for critical services and equal treatment for people with psychiatric disabilities in New York. In addition, we testify at hearings, run town hall meetings for government and agency officials to talk to mental health consumers, and publish reports on substantive legislative issues. Our primary areas of concern are housing, government benefits, patients' rights to discharge planning, and criminal justice.

PREVIOUS LEGISLATIVE SUCCESSES

MHP Helps End Solitary Confinement of People with Mental Illness in NY State Prisons

For five years, MHP advocated for a law to end the barbaric practice of putting people with severe mental illness in solitary confinement in the so-called "Special Housing Unit" (SHU). We are proud to announce that in January 2008, we won!

New legislation requires prisons to provide treatment to people with severe mental illness instead of sending them to the SHU. Furthermore, they must greatly expand the mental health training provided to correctional officers. The legislation also gives the NYS Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CQC) oversight responsibility.

Many thanks to all of the people in the Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (MHASC) coalition, who made this victory possible.

Most provisions of the law do not take effect until 2011. However, the CQC's responsibility for oversight began in July 2008. As a member of MHASC, MHP is working with CQC to ensure that the law is fully implemented.

For more information, check out our Community Education page, read  editorial support for the SHU Bill, or go to the MHASC web page.