1970: Director of Psychiatry Resigns in Protest

After futile efforts to create a psychiatric evaluation unit on Rikers, Dr. Violet E. Stephenson steps down a few months into her tenure with the Department of Correction. Her exit is due to the department’s “disgracefully inadequate” mental health program. In interviews, she is adamant that officials see mental health treatment as unnecessary and that what does exist is only there because these programs are “fashionable” to have. Three years later, former employees affirm Dr. Stephenson’s experiences while testifying before a state senate panel. They describe the “brutal treatment” of detainees and “intimidation of professional personnel by corrections officers.”