NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF MENTAL HEALTH (OMH) WAS PROPERLY HELD IN CONTEMPT AND FINED $100-A-DAY FOR THE DELAY IN TRANSFERRING THE MENTALLY ILL DEFENDANT FROM RIKERS ISLAND TO A SECURE PSYCHIATRIC FACILITY (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) was properly held in contempt based on a delay in transferring the mentally ill defendant from Rikers Island to a secure psychiatric facility. $100-a-day damages were assessed:

Defendant was charged with assault in the second degree based on the complaint that he pushed his mother to the ground causing her to twist and injure her toe. He was remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections and held at Rikers Island. The charge was later elevated from a misdemeanor to a felony based on his mother’s age. After defendant was evaluated for competency a second time in January 2025, both evaluators concluded that defendant was unfit to proceed. Supreme Court agreed, and on February 24, 2025, it ordered defendant remanded to the custody of OMH for restorative treatment. The order of commitment required that the defendant “be transferred into the custody of the Office of Mental Health no later than March 24, 2025” and warned that a failure to do so would result in a finding of contempt. It is uncontested that the transfer was delayed until July 25, 2025. * * *

OMH argues that defendant failed to prove that OMH’s delay caused his mental health to deteriorate. However, the relevant issue is not whether defendant deteriorated while he was in custody but whether OMH provided the requisite restorative care. In any event, Supreme Court was entitled to credit Dr. Goldsmith’s testimony that defendant’s condition did deteriorate at Rikers. OMH’s attempt to blame defendant for his loss because he is mentally ill and refuses treatment is risible. The purpose of a transfer to a secure psychiatric facility is so that a mentally ill defendant can receive statutorily mandated restorative care and treatment. To attribute defendant’s loss or injury to defendant’s preexisting mental illness, which causes defendant to refuse treatment, turns Criminal Procedure Law article 730 on its head. People v G.O., 2026 NY Slip Op 05242, First Dept 9-10-26