Council passes bill to identify mentally ill arrestees

City Council unanimously passed a bill last week that would mandate mental health screenings for arrestees, in order to help people suffering from mental illness who are caught in the criminal justice system. 

Councilman Andrew Cohen, who was the primary sponsor on the bill, said the legislation was partially inspired by the ongoing effort to make Rikers Island a safer place for both inmates and guards. 

“Rikers Island currently is a de facto mental institution of our day,” he said. “We are trying to make sure that there is a continuous flow of information at all levels of the criminal justice system.”

Mr. Cohen said while a considerable amount of work had been done over the past few years to improve Riker Island and other jail facilities, there was still a ways to go.

“The number of people with mental health issues in Rikers has remained stubbornly high,” he said, adding that it was “vitally important that we identify people with mental health issues early and that we continue to treat them in a humane manner.”

Clark opens prosecution
bureau on Rikers

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark has made good on one of her early campaign promises by opening a prosecution bureau on Rikers Island.

The jail facility, which houses some 11,00 detainees and convicted persons, has been a point of concern for the district attorney for some time. In 2015, she mentioned how being able to report and prosecute crimes that happen at the jail on scene would not only make Rikers a safer place, but would help ease the crippling backlog left behind by her predecessor.

“Improving conditions for everyone on Rikers Island is an integral part of improving and revitalizing the criminal justice system,” Ms. Clark said in a statement on Sept. 22. “This humble trailer stands as a bold signal that the Bronx District Attorney’s Office means business, and it shows that we are working side by side with the frontline of the Department of Correction to make the city safer by making Rikers Island safer.”

Judge compares state defense to segregation defense tactics

A U.S. District Court judge compared state lawyers’ defense in a lawsuit concerning case backlogs in the Bronx to the defense states used during the Jim Crow era.

On Sept. 7, U.S. District Judge George Daniels, who is presiding over a lawsuit against state officials for gutting speedy-trial rights in the Bronx, pointed out at a hearing that the state’s defense that the federal courts had no jurisdiction to demand that the Bronx Criminal Court address the crippling backlog of cases was eerily reminiscent of the states’ rights arguments of the early 1960’s.

“We are not arguing about segregation in the South, but if we were, [the state] would be making the same arguments that you are making,” he said. 

The plaintiffs in the case, The Bronx Defenders, allege that the rights of people who have been charged with misdemeanors in the Bronx have been trampled on by frequent delays. 

The suit mentions the more that 2,000 misdemeanor cases that have been open for more than a year and some 500 that have been open for more than two.