Hundreds of beds for NYC detainees with serious physical, mental illnesses delayed by years
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.
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.In 2019, the administration of then-Mayor Bill De Blasio announced plans for the Department of Correction to develop secure, guarded units with hundreds of therapeutic beds inside city hospitals to care for detainees with the highest medical needs.
“The services they may need that are only available in the hospital will be just an elevator ride away, not hours away,” Correctional Health Services Senior Vice President Patsy Yang told the committee Wednesday, adding that the design was “night and day” compared to the Rikers Island health care facilities.At the hearing, department officials said the timeline for the Bellevue project is more than two years behind schedule. Construction is now estimated to be completed by the end of 2024.
More than 50% of people in city jails have some type of mental health diagnosis, with almost 1 in 5 deemed to have serious mental illness, according to the latest
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