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Mamdani launches healthcare units to phase out Rikers jail
The NYC Mayor seeks to use Outposted Therapeutic Housing Units to give health care access to incarcerated individuals with complex medical needs.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Wed, 08, Apr 2026
- 00:36 EDT
- 13
Zohran Mamdani / Wikimedia commons
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced the opening of the city's first Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit (OTHU) at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit is a specialized, secure medical unit located inside a hospital, not a traditional jail, designed for people in custody who have serious or complex health needs.
Announced April 7, the 104-bed unit will serve people in custody with complex medical needs by transferring the most clinically vulnerable detainees from Rikers Island into a therapeutic setting with closer access to specialty care.
Describing the new unit as a step toward closing down Rikers, the mayor said, "Opening this new clinical facility at Bellevue Hospital is how we begin to close Rikers Island — not with promises, but with action."
ALSO READ: Mamdani rolls out fast-track plan for affordable housing
Highlighting the need for the new unit, Mamdani continued, "For too long, people with serious medical needs have been left to suffer in a system that was never designed to care for them. Today, we are building something different: a system that delivers real care, treats people with dignity and makes our city safer for everyone—incarcerated people, corrections officers and all New Yorkers."
.@nycmayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced the opening of the City’s first Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit at @BellevueHosp — a major step towards the Mamdani Administration’s commitment to closing Rikers Island.
— NYC Health + Hospitals (@NYCHealthSystem) April 7, 2026
The 104-bed unit will serve people in custody with complex… pic.twitter.com/vBe9ir5XA1
The unit is proposed to serve patients with serious conditions such as cancer and congestive heart failure who do not require hospitalization but face heightened risks in a traditional jail setting.
Located within the Bellevue Hospital campus, the unit will provide access to specialty services like oncology, cardiology and neurology, which are unavailable in traditional jail settings. Correctional Health Services (CHS) clinicians will deliver care on-site, with enhanced monitoring and support in a therapeutic environment designed to improve health outcomes.
The administration, in a statement, also announced plans to open additional Outposted Therapeutic Housing Units in Woodhull Medical Center with 144 beds and in North Central Bronx Hospital with 92 beds. These sites will primarily serve CHS patients with significant mental health needs.
The OTHU units will advance Mamdani's plan to close Rikers Island. Shutting down Rikers Island, a 413-acre prison island in the East River in the Bronx, has been a significant pillar in Mamdani's plans for the city.
He hopes to lower pretrial detention numbers, create OTHUs and shift to a system of borough-based jails to shut down Rikers by 2027, a timeline he has since acknowledged to be untenable, alleging a lack of action by previous administrations.
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