Mamdani to move mentally ill prisoners from Rikers Island to Bellevue hospital in $241 MILLION plan

Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the opening of a $250 million medical unit at Bellevue Hospital for NYC inmates complete with a basketball court and specialized treatment for prisoners. Mamdani has long been a proponent of closing prisons.

"Promises won't close Rikers Island. Action will. Today, we're announcing the opening of a 104-bed unit at Bellevue Hospital - New York City's first-ever Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit - serving people in custody with complex medical needs, including critically vulnerable detainees from Rikers Island. This marks a major step toward a correctional system built on access and prevention. The journey to close Rikers has begun," Mamdani posted to X.

The project has a price tag of around $241 million, according to The City, and will be stationed on Bellevue's second floor. The unit will be a 104-bed facility and will be the first of three “outposted therapeutic housing units” for NYC prisoners. The other units will be opened up at Woodhull Hospital and North Central Bronx Hospital, adding 236 more hospital beds.

NYC Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, who has been convicted of the crime for blocking an ambulance during a protest, talked about the initiative on Tuesday, and said that the US is about "4 percent of the world's population, but we represent about 25 percent of the world's jail population," then advocated for their to be fewer people in the prison system.

"We have to change the narrative from the people who fling the words like tough on crime, to people who are serious about safety," Williams added.

There are over 7,000 prisoners on Rikers Island and 20 percent of them have mental health issues, according to the New York Post.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Stanley Richards said as Mamdani announced the action, “Providing high-quality healthcare is among the most essential services we can offer. While this facility may be small, its impact will extend far beyond its walls, helping to shape a new model of correctional care that will open new possibilities for the future.”