ALBANY (AP) -- State lawmakers are looking into mental health treatment in state prisons and a rise in the number of suicides in correctional facilities.
The Assembly is holding a public hearing on the subject Tuesday morning in Albany. Lawmakers will focus on issues related to the implementation of the Special Housing Unit Exclusion Law.
In 2010, 20 inmates committed suicide in state prisons, twice the number in 2009 and the highest suicide rate since 1982.
Assembly Correction Committee Chair Jeffrion Aubry and Mental Health Committee Chair Felix Ortiz will also examine the expansion of existing mental health programs for inmates in disciplinary housing who were diagnosed with mental illness.
Testimony is scheduled from mental health and prisoner advocacy groups and family members of mentally ill prisoners.
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