Sixty percent of the nearly 7,000 inmates at Rikers Island in October required mental health services, up from 42% in a 2016, according to a new report from the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College and the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice.
The rising demand for mental health and substance use services at the jails — amid a looming mandate to close the troubled jail complex — points to the need to increase access to alternative treatment programs for New Yorkers accused of crimes, according to criminal justice reform advocates.
A substantial subset of inmates, 22%, had a serious mental illness such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia in October, up from 17% five years ago, according to city data cited in the report. Alcoholism and drug addiction were also prevalent: One in four Rikers inmates had an opioid use disorder and 30% had an alcohol use disorder, the report found…