Seriously ill Rikers detainees to move into new city hospital unit
Roughly 100 detainees are expected to be moved from Riker's Island to the new facility at Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday.
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Seriously ill detainees on Riker's Island are being moved into a new outposted therapeutic housing unit at New York City Health + Hospitals Bellevue on Wednesday, as the city moves forward with a mandate to shut down Riker's Island.
The facility, located inside the hospital on First Avenue in Manhattan, will have 104 beds and will be outfitted with a recreational facility, including a basketball court and physical therapy rooms.
The housing unit will be specifically for those in custody with complex medical needs, including the most vulnerable inmates. Clinicians from the Correctional Health Services will provide on-site care with a range of specialty from oncology, cardiology and neurology.
Everyone who comes off the elevator will go through a metal detector scanner system in order to enter the facility. Interlocking doors and a central command center are a part of a secure system managed by the Department of Corrections to ensure the safety of patients in the hospital.
"For too long, people with serious medical needs have been left to suffer in a system that was never designed to care for them. 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," the mayor said.
In 2019, the City Council voted to close Rikers Island by August 2027 and build four borough-based jails with therapeutic centers. As the deadline looms, Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged the delays and that meeting that deadline will be unrealistic.
"The previous administration delayed the construction of borough-based jails and drag their feet on the opening of therapeutic health facilities like this one. While the construction of this outpost, a therapeutic unit here in Bellevue, was completed in 2025, its doors have stayed closed for 15 months," said Mayor Mamdani.
The Department of Corrections will be shutting down the North Infirmary Command (NIC) at Rikers and transferring it to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services by June.
Concerns for staffing have previously been sighted for the delays at Bellevue. However, DOC Commissioner Stanley Richards says applications are overflowing. Richards they have received roughly 400 applications from corrections officers for the estimated 130-140 positions at the facility.
“When people come into our care, we must use every resource available to us to meet their individual needs with compassion, innovation, and effective support,” said Richards.
The court appointed remediation manager, Nicholas Deml joined the mayor and DOC commissioner as well as other city leaders for a tour of the facility. Deml said he is under a court order to not speak with the press but acknowledge that the facility was impressive.
Two other facilities of the same capacity are on pace to open by the end of 2029 at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn and North Central Bronx, with 142 and 92 beds.
