RIPPD on WBAI June 8, 2009

RIPPD says NO MORE JAILS!

Community in Unity (CIU), a coalition of Bronx community members and organizations along with Stop the Brooklyn House of Detention (SBHOD), held a press conference on Friday, March 20 at 11:30 AM on the steps of City Hall in protest of the Department of Corrections proposed city-wide jail expansion plan.

Despite the city’s challenging financial situation, Mayor Bloomberg and Department of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn continue to push for city wide jails, earmarking $1.2 million in the city budget to expand jails in both the Bronx and Brooklyn. The expansion of the New York City Jail system is unnecessary and irresponsible. Instead of spending money taxpayers money on jails, the city should be providing our communities with better schools, affordable housing, job training, treatment and recovery services, etc.

A jail is the last thing people of the Bronx need, stated CIU member and Bronx resident Nafis Rashed. We already have two juvenile detention centers and a prison barge, not to mention several waste-transfer stations. We need alternatives to incarceration: better schools, public parks, affordable housing. The Bronx has the highest unemployment rate in the city and the state how about we address that?

The Brooklyn and Bronx jails were closed in 2003 because of a declining prison population, sizable capacity available for prisoners at Rikers Island, and in order to save money. There continues to be no reason for the expansion of the New York City Jail System.

Join CIU in support of No More Jails, as we send a unified message to Martin Horn, Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York. No jails! No how!

Claiming Brutality, Family Plans to Sue NYPD
by Diego Cupolo, bushwickBK.com April 14th, 2009

Zully de La Cruz, one of Gamalier Reyes’ sisters, reveals the details of his encounter with police officers while her mother Ruth de Los Santos stands to the left. — Photos by Diego Cupolo

“We didn’t call you, you called us,” said the police officer at the door in response Indhira Reyes’ confusion.

Her brother, Gamalier Reyes, 26, who is bipolar and schizophrenic, was unusually disturbed after coming home from the airport early Saturday morning so she had contacted his social worker to send an ambulance. To her surprise, Indhira opened the door to eight police officers from Bushwick’s 83rd Precinct, some of them wearing plastic gloves, who said they had come to take Gamalier to the hospital.

What happened next is highly disputed.

Gamalier’s sister, Desiree, sheds tears during the press conference. Click to enlarge.

In a press conference organized by Make The Road NY on Tuesday morning, the Reyes family tearfully claimed Gamalier was beaten by six officers who entered their home while two other policemen kept them in a neighbor’s apartment. About 50 demonstrators held large pictures of Gamalier’s swollen, purple face as family members recounted the night’s events in front of the 83rd Precinct on Knickerbocker Avenue.

“He was upset, but he wasn’t violent and we were forced out of the apartment after one of the cops hit him with a baton,” said Zully de La Cruz, one of Gamalier’s sisters. “All we could do was listen to him yelling and screaming for the officers to stop hitting him.”

Gamalier is currently at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center awaiting facial reconstructive surgery for a skull fracture and multiple bones in his face. No criminal charges were filed against Gamalier and the Reyes family announced they will sue the officers involved in the beating.

“He should have been assisted, not assaulted,” De La Cruz added.

While NYPD representatives did not speak during the press conference, Paul J. Browne, a Police Department spokesman, released a statement Monday night saying Gamalier was aggressive with the officers and attacked them when they tired to restrain him.

The New York Times reported the NYPD was called by the social worker. When officers arrived, Gamalier told them, “You’re going to have to kill me. I’m not going.” In response, officers tried to subdue Gamalier, but he punched one in the face and injured a second officer in the leg, sending one to the hospital – a claim the Reyes family said was a lie.

The incident happened around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, not long after Gamalier returned early from a trip to the Dominican Republic, where his family said he was involved in a minor scuffle. His mother, Ruth de Los Santos, said he was extremely agitated upon his arrival and had not taken his medication that night.

Citing this incident, along with the recent death of Bed-Stuy resident Iman Morales, Mary Dougherty, a community organizer for Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities, said New York City needs to follow mental health initiatives similar to those in Chicago and Memphis where special Crisis Intervention Teams have been created to deal with individuals suffering from mental illness.

“We have been seeing an increasing number of people with mental disabilities being mishandled by city authorities and it doesn’t seem like the NYPD and New York City want to address these issues seriously,” Dougherty said.

According to the RIPPD, the number of inmates with a mental illness in U.S. penitentiaries has quadrupled over the last six years.

RIPPD receives Union Square Award

Seventeen New York City organizations, including RIPPD were honored at the annual Union Square Awards celebration on Saturday, December 6th. Seven received the prestigious Union Square Award and a $50,000 grant for exceptional efforts addressing the critical social and economic issues facing New Yorkers. Ten received the Union Square Arts Award and a $35,000 grant in recognition of innovative work in the arts with youth and families in low-income communities. “With minimal resources, these organizations are making extraordinary contributions to local neighborhoods. Given the current economic situation, their work is vital to New York City,” says Executive Director Iris Morales.

http://www.unionsquareawards.org/v2/news/

RIPPD hosts open forum on Community Crisis Intervention Teams

Families who have called New York City police for help during a psychiatric crisis say the 14 hours worth of training is not enough training to handle the complex emergency. Last week’s release of a report from New York State with recommendations for treatment and diversion programs was heralded by advocates. Since 1988, when the police in Memphis, Tenn., designed what is now considered a model program in crisis intervention, cities nationwide have implemented similar programs. Often they work with family advocates, mental health professionals, and people with a mental illness who have been through the system. Too often cities do not respond until after a crisis, usually the death of a mentally ill suspect.

While crisis intervention teams share similar goals, unique programs have emerged to address issues specific to local communities and to train personnel. In Oklahoma City, according to information posted on the CIT webpage, conducts annual trainings to maintain a staff of at least 100 at any time. In Los Angeles, 20 percent of the force is trained. Houston boasts that it is the largest force in the nation with “829 CIT officers in patrol and 260 CIT trained officers in non-patrol assignments.” Starting in 2007, all cadets received 40 hours of training, up from the previous 16, and about one-quarter of the force will be trained. New York State recently issued a report

In New York City, Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities (RIPPD) brought together relatives and experts in the prisons and courts on June 4 to discuss diverting people with a mental illness into treatment rather than jail. On the panel at the RIPPD conference were:

Panelist Maria Angelina Ortiz addresses an audience at the open forum to discus pre-booking jail diversion programs in New York City, sponsored by RIPPD, June 4, 2008.

Ortiz, a parent, discusses a first-time experience calling 911 when her son had a psychiatric emergency needing hospitalization.

Award winning journalist Mary Beth Pfeiffer described writing stories about the intersection of people with mental illness with the police for the Poughkeepsie Journal. She recounted one of them, about young person whose life changed four days after her 16th birthday when the law required the police treat her as an adult rather than a child despite the illness all knew she had. Her story is repeated in her book,
Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of our Criminalized Mentally Ill.”

The death of her brother David following a call to police propelled Jean Griffin to become an advocate for training police in techniques for helping, and subduing when necessary, people with a psychiatric illness. She discussed her responses to learning from an autopsy report showing 18 taser burns with nine broken facial bones. The police who responded to the 911-call were neighbors, friends, and classmates.

Marquez Claxton, a retired detective from the New York City Police Department, describes the need to train officers to work with people who have a mental illness. Currently, Claxton says, they are brushed with the label, “EDPs,” which stands for “emotionally disturbed persons” They are trained to believe these will be the most dangerous calls they will have, anticipating they will be hurt or killed. Claxton is a member of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.

Don Kamin, Ph.D., spoke at the New York City forum, Implementing Pre-Booking Jail Diversion Programs (sponsored by RIPPD), drawing on 20 years of experience including research indicating less violence, fewer arrests, reduced stigma, and partnerships in communities as a result of police diversion programs.

Panelist Terence McCormick, MSW, founder of CARES, addressed an open forum about pre-booking police diversion in New York City sponsored by RIPPD on June 4, 2008. McCormick now provides technical assistance for training officials in diversion strategies. He formerly directed founded Community Forensic Services for the New York State Office of Mental Health.