Overview
- The North Infirmary Command was permanently closed and emptied after detainees with complex medical needs were moved off the island, a change announced on Monday, June 29.
- Those transfers relied on a new offsite therapeutic unit at Bellevue that has 104 beds and is designed to provide hospital‑level, specialty care with two more specialty units planned at Woodhull and North Central Bronx.
- The Department of Corrections transferred NIC and large portions of two other vacant centers to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to plan noncustodial uses for the properties.
- City officials and the newly named Close Rikers Czar say the closure advances decarceration plans but concede the legally required August 2027 full shutdown is not on track and borough jails are now projected to finish between 2029 and 2032.
- Advocates hailed the NIC shutdown as a milestone after decades of reports of violence, solitary confinement and deaths in custody, while officials say staged transfers, construction and planning will shape prisoners’ moves and Rikers’s future use.