Criminal Justice
At Bellevue Hospital, Mamdani takes a step toward closing Rikers
The mayor touted the opening of a 104-bed therapeutic unit for incarcerated people to replace a Rikers Island infirmary.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined corrections and hospital workers to announce the new unit. Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Come Wednesday, people with complex medical needs incarcerated on Rikers Island will begin moving into a new therapeutic unit at Bellevue Hospital.
The 104-bed specialized site, which will house and treat incarcerated people with the most serious medical conditions, follows years of delays and unexpected costs. For months under the Adams administration, New York City officials had said there weren’t enough corrections officers to operate the facility. Announcing its opening Tuesday morning, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Department of Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards said this is a significant step in the city’s efforts to close Rikers Island. Demand to work there had been high, according to the mayor. More than 400 corrections officers had ultimately applied to fill about 130 positions, he said.
“While the construction of this outposted therapeutic unit here at Bellevue was completed in 2025, its doors have stayed closed for 15 months,” Mamdani said, addressing the sea of people gathered in the hospital’s historic atrium. “Today, we are charting a different course, one that diverts from the path of neglect and begins the process of closing Rikers Island once and far all.”
A few scenes from the new unit at Bellevue Hospital where incarcerated people will begin moving into tomorrow.
— Sahalie Donaldson (@SahalieD) April 7, 2026
It’s a pretty sprawling space - there are multiple dorms, exam rooms, a library/studying room and large outdoor space complete with a basketball hoop. pic.twitter.com/UhB8us84IV
Rikers won’t close by the 2027 deadline set by the City Council during the de Blasio administration. Progress on the four borough-based jails slated to replace the jail complex has been slow. Not to mention the number of people currently incarcerated there, about 6,800, is far too high to fit in the new facilities, which will have a capacity of 4,160. Mamdani has acknowledged as much, blaming the delay in part on his predecessor for not making it a priority. Still, new leadership overseeing DOC has spurred renewed hope that the longstanding cycle of violence and dysfunction at New York City jails could come to an end.
The Bellevue Hospital unit is seen as an important piece of that, allowing the city this June to shutter the aged medical infirmary on Rikers Island known as the North Infirmary Command. The new unit is a marked improvement from the old facility, which was once a garage used to fix DOC vehicles. At Bellevue, patients will stay in dorm-style rooms or private rooms depending on their medical needs – both flooded with natural light. Walls are covered with serene photographs of nature and the city throughout the facility. There’s a room for physical therapy, occupational therapy equipment and a sizable outdoor recreational space complete with a basketball hoop.
Following a tour of the unit, City Council Criminal Justice Committee Chair Yusef Salaam, who was wrongfully incarcerated as a teenager for a crime he was later acquitted of, said he’d been moved by what he’d seen, describing it as a recognition of humanity.
The city plans to open two similar units at hospitals in the Bronx and Brooklyn by the end of 2029. Together with the Bellevue location, the facilities will be able to house about 340 people.