By Jesse Edwards, October 18, 2023
A plan to move more than 360 detainees with serious mental and physical health conditions off Rikers Island and into state-of-the-art therapeutic beds in borough-based hospitals has been delayed by years with no clear date of completion in sight, city jails officials told the New York City Council on Wednesday.
In a joint oversight hearing held by the Council’s criminal justice and hospitals committees on Wednesday, members grilled officials from the Department of Correction and Correctional Health Services about what is holding up three new therapeutic facilities at Bellevue, Woodhull and North Central Bronx hospitals.
The 104-bed facility at Bellevue was scheduled to open in December 2022.
“If it had come to pass, 104 people would already be off Rikers Island and be in therapeutic housing,” Councilmember Carlina Rivera told department officials. “What happened?”
Jails officials said the unit was delayed after city leadership changed in 2022, and that new project leaders put in charge flagged a number of “security issues” in the design.
Jails officials said they could not give a firm timeline on when the Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit facilities would be opened and could not say when they could get the information to the Council.