Detainees at Rikers Island with complicated medical needs will be transferred to a Manhattan hospital to get access to speciality care, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday.

A new therapeutic housing unit is opening to facilitate the mayor’s plan of closing the troubled jail complex. It will serve 104 people in custody. 

The first one will be at Bellevue Hospital in Kips Bay and have direct access to specialty services, including oncology, cardiology and neurology. 

“For too long, people with serious medical needs have been left to suffer in a system that was never designed to care for them,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Today, we are building something different: a system that delivers real care, treats people with dignity and makes our city safer for everyone — incarcerated people, corrections officers and all New Yorkers.”

More units to open across NYC

Two other units will be created at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull and North Central Bronx. The one in Brooklyn will have 144 beds and the one in the Bronx will have 92. 

Those sites will serve patients with significant mental health needs, the mayor said.

The city’s Department of Correction will provide security, custody management, programming and other services.   

“Treat people in a more respectful and decent way” 

Health officials lauded Mamdani’s announcement, saying it’s a new step forward in caring for incarcerated people. 

“The units are another milestone in how we see and treat people in a more respectful and decent way,” said Dr. Patsy Yang, the senior vice president for NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services. 

Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Helen Arteaga said the unit will treat patients faster and more humanely. 

“Medical care has been difficult to access for those in the correctional system, particularly those at Rikers Island. That ends now,” Arteaga said. 

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