Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Justyna Rzewinski : A Whistleblower's Fight for Mental Health in Prisons
Fri, 09 May 2025
Send us a textJustyna Rzewinski shares her experience as a whistleblower after working at Rikers Island and her ongoing advocacy for criminal justice reform focusing on mental health treatment.• Working with different organizations to close Rikers Island and advocating for better treatment of mentally ill inmates• Fighting for smaller borough-based jails to replace Rikers, potentially saving $1 billion annually from DOC's $2.8 billion budget• Advocating for mental health courts and programs to divert people with mental illness away from incarceration• Connecting pre-trial defendants to mental health services, education, employment, and housing resources• Witnessing remarkable transformations when mentally ill inmates receive proper treatment in appropriate facilities• Challenging misconceptions about mental illness through education and sharing personal experiences• Working on legislation to mandate healthcare professionals to report abuse seen in correctional facilities• Demonstrating how one voice speaking up against injustice can create meaningful systemic changeOur experience shows that mental illness treatment works when provided in appropriate settings. We encourage everyone to learn more about criminal justice reform and share these conversations to create better understanding and awareness.https://tonymantor.comhttps://Facebook.com/tonymantorhttps://instagram.com/tonymantorhttps://twitter.com/tonymantorhttps://youtube.com/tonymantormusicintro/outro music bed written by T. WildWhy Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Chapter 1: Who is Justyna Rzewinski and what is her story?
Hopefully, you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantra. Welcome to Why Not Me? The World's Humanity Over Handcuffs, the Silent Crisis special event. Today, we're joined by an incredible guest, Justyna Roszynski.
With over a decade of experience working with populations impacted by the criminal legal system, Justyna is a passionate advocate for criminal justice reform and a dedicated force for meaningful change. She's here to share her inspiring story, and I'm thrilled to have her on the show. Thanks for coming on.
Thank you for having me.
Oh, it's my pleasure. If you would, could you expand on what you're doing now since you left Rikers Island?
Chapter 2: What has Justyna been doing since leaving Rikers Island?
So since Rikers, let me see what has changed. I've just been really involved with different organizations that are working to close Rikers. So I've been doing a lot of work with that and attending conferences, doing some speaking engagements.
What is your focus on Rikers now? You've worked there and then you left. Then once you left, you became a whistleblower to tell everyone some of the things that was going on in the prison. What's your focus now on what you saw, what they do and what you think needs to be changed?
you know, how they treated people with a severe mental illness and we're working to eventually close it or while it's not being closed for a federal receivership to take over.
It does make sense for the short term, instead of just closing it, trying to address some of the things that do need to be changed so things can be better and restructure it so that it can still be a facility that is used, but one that is done in a better situation for all involved.
Chapter 3: What are the issues with mental health treatment at Rikers Island?
Yep. The goal is for it to be closed, and it's actually the law that it needs to be closed by 2027, but that's not going to happen by 2027. And the plan is to build smaller jails in each borough. and then allocate that money that's left over for community resources. Because the budget for DOC is $2.8 billion per year.
Chapter 4: How are smaller borough-based jails part of the solution?
But if it's closed and the smaller jars are all built, that would save around $1 billion. per year. So there is construction taking place. I don't remember which borrows, but there is. And like I said, this is a plan and it's the law. So it does have to close. It just depends on when, because the deadline was 2027, but it's not going to happen by that time.
The Rikers Island Jail, it's on an island, so it's really difficult for people to come in and visit their loved ones or lawyers. It's a whole day trip just getting on the island. If the smaller jails are built in each borough, it would also make it less difficult for people to be able to go and visit.
Yeah, that makes sense. So what are you doing now to support all that and reintegrate anything that's changed since you left there?
Chapter 5: What role do mental health courts play in criminal justice reform?
So I've... I've been involved with different organizations. Like last Friday, I spoke at a rally because it was the Committee of Criminal Justice budget hearing. We had a rally in front of City Hall and me and other advocates, as well as people who are incarcerated, spoke about their experience and also where the money should go and how
We want the money to go into alternatives to incarceration, mental health courts, so that people with a severe mental illness don't end up going to Rikers, that they actually receive the kind of treatment that they need. Because as I witnessed on Rikers Island, People don't get any mental health treatment. They actually get worse. And these individuals are coming back into the community.
And that's how they're being released from Rikers Island. Not medicated, traumatized. And I'm not saying people with a mental illness commit a crime, but... They don't have the support to help them if they're not on their medications. There's a risk for that. It's our doing as a society not supporting these individuals and providing them with the help that they actually need.
Yeah, yeah. The one thing that I have heard talking with various people about mental health is the prisons should not be the hospitals for the people that are incarcerated there. They need to be in places where they can get their medications as they need it and hopefully reform in such a way so when they do transition into the public that they are actually ready for it.
Exactly. I've also been working with different coalitions. In January, I went up to Albany and spoke at a press conference there about the Court Expansion Act, which we're trying to pass, which would extend mental health courts and programs in the community.
I know that you was working at one time with people as they come out of the legal system. Are you still doing that or have you transitioned into something different? What are you doing now?
So my like nine to five full-time job, I'm working in a supervised release program. So this is pre-trial. So this is when somebody is arraigned and they go before the judge and the judge decides if they're going to set bail. If they set bail, that means that individual will be on Rikers Island fighting their case. And if the judge decides
recommends supervised release then they're being able to fight their case while being in the community so what we do is we make sure that they attend all of their court appointments they come in and do check-ins with us and we also connect them to outside resources
When you give them the outside resources, is that for the mental health issues that they're facing? Or is that for lawyers that can help them? What kind of outside services are you providing or suggesting for them?
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Chapter 6: How is Justyna working to change perceptions about mental illness?
Well, the Rikers situation is certainly part of that. Also, the speaking engagements that you're doing to help promote what you've been advocating for.
Yeah, it's been very positive. I've gotten so many supports. I've met so many people in this work and they've been very supportive. Unfortunately, people at Rikers are not, and I have very few people that I still talk to. Most of the people just don't talk to me, but I received so much support on the outside from lawyers, advocates, people in this work. It's been very overwhelming in a good way.
They're really happy. And they ask me, we're doing a rally. Do you want to come and talk? I've been working with lawyers on certain things. Legal Aid has a lawsuit against DOC for lack of access to medical care. And I was able to provide an affidavit for that. And what I witnessed, how individuals there do not receive medical care. It's been really positive working with all of these individuals.
That's good to hear. Now, anytime you go into something, you always have your goals that you want to accomplish there. In the time that you've been there, what are some of the things that you've accomplished that you, in the back of your mind, thought, man, I probably might not be able to get this, but you did?
From what I've heard, and I don't know if this is true, but this is what I heard, that they're no longer deadlocking individuals. And if somebody is locked in, they're only locked in for a tour. And then the officers are told to let that person out. And I couldn't believe that when I heard it, because I remember working there and having...
People on my unit locked in for weeks and months, and it was a number of people. So just hearing that nobody's locked in only for a tour, I couldn't believe it. I was like, wow, I did that. To me, that's amazing because it was happening in every unit. So I didn't know that I would have such an impact. There's currently investigations going in. So this is being investigated.
So they have taken my concerns and what I discussed very seriously. And I really did not think it was going to be such a big impact.
Wow, that's certainly very good. Now you made that impact. What are some of the other things you are trying to accomplish? I mean, that's a tremendous amount in just that short period of time. What are some of the other things you're trying to get out there so people can understand what you're advocating for and what's going on? And that way you can hopefully make a dedicated change.
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Chapter 7: What impact has Justyna's advocacy had?
Yes. So definitely letting the public know about how people with a mental illness are treated in a jail, because a lot of people don't know. If you don't have a family member, if you're not doing this work, you have no idea. And this is where we sent the most vulnerable people. to a jail where they don't receive any treatment. So I'm always trying to make the public aware.
And even though they're not locking in anyone, it doesn't mean the work stopped because that's happening right now. I want to make sure it continues and not because now they're on the spotlight, they're not doing this. And then a few months pass, some time passes and they go back to it. So that's my goal.
And like I said, to help those Rikers and help extend more programs where people actually get the mental health treatment that they need.
You work with a lot of people that are schizophrenic. Is that correct?
Mm-hmm.
Now, schizophrenia has a stigma attached to it that some people just do not understand. They think that if they hear about someone that's schizophrenic, they think about the movies, which just is not true.
Mm-hmm.
How do you change that perception when you're talking about schizophrenia? And unfortunately, when you're dealing with schizophrenia, you have some of the worst case scenarios. They do some really bad things, but then they get on medications. They understand what they did was wrong. And now they're a totally different person from what they were.
How do you change the perception of those people when you're talking with others that don't understand because they look at it as they did something bad, put them in jail, throw away the key?
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Chapter 8: How can public awareness of mental health treatment in jails be increased?
Yeah. So I try to educate people and I say, eventually these individuals will be coming out of jail. We're not the judge and the jury. We can't just throw away the key and really educating them about what the system does to them by locking them in a cell and not giving them access to medications. These individuals were born with this. It's not like they brought it on themselves.
And we need to help them as a society. And I often talk about how while I was working on Rikers, some of my patients, most of my patients were found unfit to stand trial and they had to go to an OMH facility to be restored to fitness. And I remember when they would come back, they came back completely different people because they were medicated. They were not locked in
They were able to participate in group. And I always say I was able to have a coherent conversation. They were unrecognizable. And it's just like any other medical condition. If you have diabetes, you have to take medications for it, just like with mental illness, with certain mental illness like schizophrenia and other disorders. When individuals
may commit a crime or do something like it's not because they really want to. First of all, they may be off their medications. They may be experiencing auditory or visual hallucinations. A lot of my, all of my patients that I spoke to on Rikers Island, like they all told me when they were arrested for the crime that, All of them were off their medications.
And like I said, I'm not saying that every person with schizophrenia commits a crime, but they were off their medications. They were living on the street, homeless, riding the train, no support, no help. We as a society, if we really care about community safety and we want everyone to be safe, we have to help these individuals.
Yeah, and a lot of these people are in their late teens or mid-20s. They're just developing it. I was told the other day that it's from 12 to 24 that it first starts to show up with these individuals. A lot of them aren't even on medications because they don't even realize that they have a problem yet. So how do we get it across to people? Like you said, this is not something they decided to do.
This is something that evolved as they grew older because sometimes it takes years for it to come out. And then by that time, it's developed into, unfortunately, a real problem.
Yeah. Like I said, just education, because I find that like people are not educated about mental illness and don't really understand it. And like you said, only see certain things on the media. They have so many misconceptions. So working with this population, I tried to address those misconceptions and just educate them and
Like I said, I often talk about, especially when I'm advocating for mental health treatment, that mental health treatment does work because I've seen my patients come back completely different. A lot of them didn't even remember the way they were acting when they were off their medications, completely different people.
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