September 9, 2025 Albany, NY – Disability Rights New York (DRNY) and Prisoners’ Legal Services of 

New York (PLS) filed a complaint with a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in 

the Northern District against New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, 

Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III, in his official capacity, Marcy Correctional Facility, 

Superintendent Bennie Thorpe, in his official capacity, New York State Office of Mental Health, 

Commissioner Ann Marie T. Sullivan, in her official capacity, RMHU Unit Chief Vincent Lorusso, in 

his official capacity, Governor Kathy Hochul, in her official capacity, and the State of New York.

After visiting in August 2025, DRNY and PLS found that the Marcy Correctional Facility’s 

Residential Mental Health Unit (RMHU) functions similarly to the segregated housing units it was 

meant to improve.

In 2007, the then-Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) agreed to create the RMHU as part of a 

settlement in response to a 2002 lawsuit filed by DRNY, as Disability Advocates, Inc., PLS, Davis 

Polk Wardwell and Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project against the New York State Office 

of Mental Health (OMH). The lawsuit alleged that DOCS and OMH failed to provide adequate mental 

health services in prison, resulting in the placement of individuals with mental illness in 

solitary confinement.

Following the settlement of that lawsuit, New York passed a law making the RMHU permanent.

However, despite these reforms, the practice of isolating incarcerated individuals with serious 

mental illnesses in segregated units continues. People are confined to small cells for 24 hours a 

day for months on end absent an occasional call-out. These cells are subjected to extreme 

temperatures due to the lack of proper airflow through the unit and are littered with debris, 

including feces.

“The conditions that these men are living in are horrific,” said Timothy Clune, Esq., Executive 

Director of DRNY. “After decades of operating these units, the defendants decided to terminate all 

services for these men. They are now confined to their cells under inhumane conditions.”

“The DAI lawsuit exposed the appalling conditions endured by individuals with serious mental 

illness in New York’s prison system and, after five years of hard-fought litigation, it was finally 

settled,” said Karen Murtagh, Executive Director of PLS. “That settlement came with the expectation 

that DOCCS and OMH would fulfill their obligations and provide adequate care and treatment to this 

vulnerable population. Unfortunately, they have failed to do so—and we are once again compelled

to return to court to fight for the basic rights and dignity of our clients.”