The family of a man accused of attacking a therapist on the Upper East Side and killing her with a meat cleaver says he has been denied medication for his mental illness in jail, and is calling for his psychiatric state to be reassessed. The suspect, David Tarloff, who for years has been in and out of hospitals to treat his mental illness, was ruled mentally fit for his trial in the death of Kathryn Faughey after a psychiatric evaluation last month.

In a motion filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court, his lawyer and family are arguing that he was ruled mentally fit only because he was on medication at the time of his assessment. His father, Leonard Tarloff, said that since his son moved to Riker’s Island he has claimed to be the messiah and has complained to his father of seeing visions of “flakes falling from the sky,” according to an affidavit filed along with the motion.

“The reports of hallucinations and apparent delusions of grandeur concern me and make it clear that David is not being properly treated and medicated for his psychiatric illnesses,” Mr. Tarloff said in the affidavit.

The motion also says that inmates have taunted him, calling him “the cleaver,” and that one inmate attacked him, punching him in the face. The motion calls on the court to reassess Mr. Tarloff or allow him to be held in the psychiatric unit at Bellevue Hospital.

A spokesman for the city Department of Correction, Stephen Morello, said Mr. Tarloff had been separated from the general population since he arrived at Riker’s last month because of his connection to the high-profile case.

Mr. Morello said his medication and health care are the responsibility of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.