Marco Barrios says punitive jails cannot be therapeutic

Good afternoon and thank you for having me.

My name is Marco Barrios.

I'm the criminal justice advocate at the Mental Health Project of the Urban Justice Center, where my primary responsibility is monitoring New York City's compliance with the Brad Age Settlement.

I'm also a member of the Treatment Not Jail Coalition, which champions the Treatment Court Expansion Act.

Furthermore, I'm a veteran in the United States Armed Forces and served in the Gulf War, and I'm also a survivor of the criminal legal system, where I did 24 years and six months.

But now I visit Rikers Island weekly, and I see up to 20 clients each time.

I'm here to tell you what I see in those jails.

One, a punitive setting cannot be a therapeutic space.

The forces used to exercise control often makes the things more out of control.

You cannot run a program that promotes recovery, which requires self-direction, respect, and hope inside a system that demands submission, strips people of their humanity,

and fills them with despair.

Now, mental health treatment in jails and prisons centered primarily around the

provision of medication.

Medication should not be the only option.

There should be different modalities of treatment.

At Riker's, other treatment methods are limited at best and for some, non-existent.

The one-on-ones with clinicians are brief and group therapy is also limited.

The treatment plan should be a growing plan that

provides for the individual needs of each person in response as they change over time.

And even if they receive appropriate psychiatric medication, that is a challenge.

Psychiatric medication management is supposed to be ongoing structured partnership between a patient and prescribing provider to evaluate, adjust, and monitor psychotropic.

Medication for safety and effectiveness, and the consequences are predictable.

The individual's previous experience with medication and understanding of the illness is at times ignored.

Rather than listening and responding to the needs of each person, psychiatric...

That was quick.

Okay.

My action is to support the treatment I call...

Thank you.

And I have the written testimony.

There's a lot there.

I know.