FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

New York, NY (June 29, 2026) -- Today, Mayor Mamdani announced the transfer of Rikers’ North Infirmary Command (NIC), which held people with acute medical needs, from the Department of Correction to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

This transfer was made possible by the creation of Bellevue Hospital’s Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit, a first-of-its-kind secure hospital ward where more than 100 incarcerated New Yorkers now receive care in a therapeutic hospital environment instead of NIC, which was converted to an infirmary from a parking garage.

“We applaud Mayor Mamdani and Commissioner Stanley Richards for permanently shuttering North Infirmary Command, the decrepit facility on Rikers Island that too often failed to provide the minimum standard of mental and medical health care to people who are incarcerated," said Insha Rahman, president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice. “Now, incarcerated people needing care will receive treatment at a state-of-the-art facility at Bellevue Hospital. By meeting incarcerated people’s needs, both physical and psychological, the city is making neighborhoods safer by preparing people to successfully return home and find greater stability. Mayor Mamdani’s administration is showing its dedication to increasing public safety for all of us."

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