NYC aims to complete construction on therapeutic units ahead of planned Rikers closure

Some incarcerated individuals with serious health issues are a step closer to getting off Rikers Island and into a therapeutic bed.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams greenlit a long-awaited $718 million effort on Monday to build new therapeutic facilities at hospitals in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

The facilities—which will be guarded by the Department of Correction (DOC) and located at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, Woodhull, and North Central Bronx—will create more than 350+ outposted therapeutic housing beds for incarcerated individuals with serious mental illness, substance use disorder, and other health challenges.

“Ensuring dignity, safety, and care of all justice-involved New Yorkers is a top priority for our administration,” Adams said in a statement, adding that the effort “will provide greater access to specialized medical care for people in our custody.”

Construction is underway at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, and city officials anticipate the facility will be finished by next spring. The Adams administration expects construction at North Central Bronx and Woodhull hospitals to end by summer 2027.

The New York Times reported that the jail complex would most likely not close by August 2027, the legally mandated deadline.

The effort to move what the Adams administration calls the “most clinically vulnerable” off Rikers and into therapeutic units started under the de Blasio administration in 2019, but has since faced hurdles such as mayoral turnover and “‘security issues’ in the design,” Gothamist reported.

Once the facilities are completed, the city will need to staff the sites to make them operational.

In addition to the updated construction timeline, Adams boasted $14 million in funding to bolster initiatives around trauma-informed care and substance use education, among other issues.