By Michael Scwirtz
NY Times
NEW YORK — Attacks on health care workers and other civilian staff members at Rikers Island have spiked over the last year, as officials have scaled back their use of punitive measures and expanded treatment for the swelling ranks of mentally ill inmates at the New York City jail complex.
The surge in assaults underscores the complexities of a new push to improve mental health care at Rikers, where officials last year began reducing the use of solitary confinement among mentally ill inmates, because the practice has been shown to aggravate their conditions. Jail officials are also providing more therapy and counseling to inmates. About 40 percent of Rikers Island inmates have a diagnosed mental illness, the New York Correction Department says. The proportion has doubled in eight years.
As a result, health care workers are increasingly on the front lines at Rikers, where mentally ill inmates now account for nearly 40 percent of the population. Since July 1, 2013, the start of the fiscal year, assaults on civilian staff — mostly health care workers — have increased by 144 percent compared with the same period the year before, according to data from the Correction Department. Of the 39 assaults on civilians during that period, all but three involved inmates with a mental health diagnosis.
Full story: Inmate Attacks on Civilian Staff Climb at Rikers