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. <\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first one will be at Bellevue Hospital in Kips Bay and have direct access to specialty services, including oncology, cardiology and neurology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
More units to open across NYC<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those sites will serve patients with significant mental health needs, the mayor said.<\/p>\n
The city’s Department of Correction will provide security, custody management, programming and other services. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Treat people in a more respectful and decent way”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Health officials lauded Mamdani’s announcement, saying it’s a new step forward in caring for incarcerated people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Helen Arteaga said the unit will treat patients faster and more humanely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Medical care has been difficult to access for those in the correctional system, particularly those at Rikers Island. That ends now,” Arteaga said.\u00a0<\/p>\n