The middle child of three, Nieves was born in 1982 at Harlem Hospital. It wasn’t clear whether he received it before his death a few weeks later. She ordered a new psychiatric exam at Nieves’ last court appearance on Aug. In March of this year, following a 730 exam, which determines mental health, Judge Ward ruled he was again unfit for prosecution.Īnd then in June, when he asked for his case to be moved to mental health court, Ward found him fit again, sending him back to Rikers. In November 2021, Judge Laura Ward agreed he was still fit for prosecution. In May 2020, Judge Erika Edwards found him fit for prosecution. In October 2019, Nieves was ruled unfit for prosecution by Manhattan Judge Curtis Farber following the results of a psychiatric exam and sent to a state health facility. Then he’d be sent back to psychiatric facilities when he deteriorated in lockup. Each time his condition started to improve he’d go to jail. It was the beginning of Nieves’ revolving door. At his first court appearance, a judge sent him to Rikers. The NYPD and FDNY marshals brought him to Harlem Hospital.Īfter a month, he was released to an outpatient facility and almost immediately arrested on burglary and arson charges for the bathroom incident. Nobody was hurt during the episode except Nieves, who suffered burn wounds. Nieves’ dizzying three-year ordeal from arrest to suicide began in March 2019, when authorities say he broke into an apartment and barricaded himself inside a bedroom with a terrified tenant.ĭuring the alleged encounter, Nieves put a dresser to the door to prevent the woman’s husband from entering and started trying to light things on fire. Kross Center where he slit his throat with the razor he signed out from staff that they failed to take back. While on Rikers, Nieves spent time at the PACE unit, an acronym for Program to Accelerate Clinical Effectiveness. “The jails do not have the resources or the capacity to provide the support that people with these chronic and severe mental health conditions need.” “At the end of the day, no unit on Rikers can respond appropriately to severe mental illness,” said Julia Solomons, a social worker at Bronx Defenders. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News) Riker’s Island as seen from the Bronx on Sunday September 11, 2022. The alternative is often Rikers Island and other city jails, where detainees living in overcrowded conditions and a violent atmosphere can go months without receiving psychiatric medication, according to complaints documented by Legal Aid. He pointed to a bill currently before the state Legislature that would do just that. “Diversion and mental health courts are not meant for defendants who displayed the behavior and had the problems that this individual clearly suffered from,” said Office of Court Administration spokesman Lucian Chalfen.īerman said that’s a narrow interpretation - and the system should be expanded to accommodate more people with psychiatric problems. Administrators said they don’t consider people like Nieves a good candidate because community programs are not set up to treat people with severe mental health needs. Jeffrey Berman, a mental health attorney in the Manhattan Legal Aid Society’s criminal practice, said succeeding in getting a case heard by a mental health judge is like “winning the lottery.”ĭistrict attorneys are the ultimate gatekeepers when it comes to getting a case transferred, but a detainee needs the court’s support as well. Public defenders and other criminal court administrators who spoke with the Daily News said the specialized court has multiple barriers to entry - including a cap on admissions. But only the lucky and limited few succeed in having their case heard there.
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