HOST, CRISTINA MACAYA: This morning, the city council debated the 2025 budget for health, mental health, disability, and addiction. An hour before the hearing, protestors gathered on Chambers Street to rally against what they say is the criminalization of mental illness. Giulia Leo was there.
LEO 1
From the age of 17 until her early 40s Helen “Skip” Skipper says she cycled in and out of jail.
SKIPPER 1
Every year I was locked up or getting released. But every year I came in with unchecked mental illness, with substance abuse problems. I was never given treatment. I was never given support.
LEO 2
Skip says she was an addict who sold drugs. And because she didn’t get the support she needed, she continued to break the law… and to get arrested.
SKIPPER 2
Mental illness, behavioral health as a whole has always been criminalized. Instead of providing us treatment and support, they throw us up under the jail.
LEO 3
Today, Skip is joined by a crowd of dozens rallying outside City Hall.
[FADE IN “CHANTING” AND RUN UNDER LEO 3]
They are asking the City to invest in community support for people with mental illnesses - rather than spending money on more beds for jails. Jay Edidin is with The Women’s Community Justice Association. He says the city’s justice system is broken and women are the most impacted.
EDIDIN 1
So this is happening at a time when the incarceration of women is increasing at double the rate of the incarceration of men, where it's just taken off exponentially over the last decade. Nationwide, 70% of women involved in the criminal legal system have mental health diagnosis. At Rikers Island that’s actually 80%.
LEO 4
As an alternative to incarceration, Edidin would like to see more programs offering peer support. Skip agrees. She’s working towards a PhD. in criminology.
SKIPPER 3
Peer support is an evidence based practice. It has been empirically researched to work. Use us, allow us to have a seat at the table. Your recidivism problems and costs problems of those with behavioral health will be mitigated.
LEO 5
Skipper says she got help. Not from the city. But she did manage to get clean.
SKIPPER 4
And I haven’t looked back ever since then.
LEO 6
Giulia Leo, Columbia Radio News.