New York's Shadow Prisons, CHLP (2025)

This fact sheet exposes a hidden system of indefinite detention under New York’s Mental Hygiene Law Article 10. Originally created in 2007, this law allows the state to confine individuals after they have completed their prison sentences, particularly those with sex-related convictions, based on perceived future risk rather than past actions. These shadow prisons—STARC–Oakview and STARC–Bridgeview—function like regular prisons but are masked as psychiatric facilities. These institutions operate outside traditional legal safeguards, relying on vague and biased risk assessments to justify lifetime confinement. These tools are often discriminatory, especially against Black men and LGBTQ+ people.

The system is characterized as ineffective and unjust, citing research that shows no reduction in sexual violence or recidivism due to such preventive detention. It also highlights the immense cost—over $326,000 per person annually—and contends that resources would be better spent on supporting survivors, public education, and violence prevention. The report further challenges the legitimacy of the therapeutic programs offered in these facilities, labeling them as coercive and ethically dubious. Overall, it calls for the abolition of New York’s shadow prisons and the redirection of state resources toward more humane and effective public safety strategies.