Correctional Health Services – Our Services
NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services has the unique opportunity to cushion the impact of incarceration and the responsibility to address the health needs of patients to better prepare them to leave jail and not return.
Our work includes the following.
Enhanced Pre-Arraignment Screening Services (EPASS) screen for and provide limited treatment of medical and mental health conditions to enable individuals in custody to proceed through their arraignment processing and, for consenting patients, expedite connection with their attorney about alternatives to detention. EPASS locations are in the courthouses in all five boroughs.
Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation Court Clinics (FPECC) conduct court-ordered psychiatric evaluations of adult criminal defendants related to competence to stand trial or pre-sentencing investigations. FPECC locations are in the courthouses in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.
Jail Health Services offer a full range of health care to all persons in the custody of the NYC Department of Correction, including the following:
- Medical care
- Mental health care
- Substance use treatment
- Nursing services
- Social work services
- Specialty and Urgicare services
- Geriatric and complex care
- Dental care
- Pharmacy services
- Telehealth services
- Dialysis
- Nursery care
- Discharge planning and re-entry services
Point of Re-entry and Transition (PORT) program is a collaboration among CHS and NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County hospitals. PORT was created to help support and sustain successful re-entry into the community following incarceration in the City’s system. PORT includes:
- Community health workers who help patients connect with health care at Bellevue and Kings
- New clinics established specifically for the PORT program
- CHS providers working in the PORT clinics to help promote continuity of care from jail to community
Patient Relations
If you have concerns about the health care provided in the City’s jails, then you can contact the CHS Patient Relations department by calling (347) 774-7030 from Monday through Friday, during the hours of 8:00am to 4:00pm, or emailing CHSPatientRelations@nychhc.org at any time.
Medical Records
If you would like to request the medical records of a current or former patient, please the CHS Medical Records Unit at CHSMedicalRecords@nychhc.org, send a fax to (347) 774-8153, or mail your request to:
NYC H+H/Correctional Health Services
CHS Medical Records Unit
49-04 19th Avenue
Astoria, NY 11105
Please note that a patient consent form is required by law in order for medical records to be released. If you have any questions, please call (646) 614-0100.
Creative Arts Therapy
NYC Health + Hospitals presents here its first-ever exhibition to showcase creative works by individuals detained on Rikers Island alongside selections from its own art collection. Bridging the worlds of art, health care, and the criminal legal system, Creating Within invites viewers to reflect on, and to celebrate, the power of creative expression to sustain health and wellness, support self-empowerment, and transcend literal and abstract constraints under even the most challenging conditions.
For New Yorkers living with mental health conditions while incarcerated in the City’s jails, constraints defining their reality take manifold forms: physical, temporal, psychological, and social. Those who participate in NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services’ (CHS) Creative Arts Therapy program on Rikers Island, the oldest and largest jail-based arts therapy program in the nation, explore the emotions these restrictions evoke by creating their own original art, music, and writing. Research on similar programs in carceral settings shows that participation in creative arts therapy can improve patients’ self-esteem, emotional stability, and well-being while decreasing their feelings of hopelessness and anger.
Creating Within honors the inherent value of the art created in therapy sessions at Rikers and celebrates art as a universal language by displaying these works alongside complementary selections from the NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine Collection (pages 12, 23, 41, 52, 54, and 55). Paintings and mixed media art from the hospital’s collection–by Charles Abramson, Martha Boyden, Cynthia Carlson, Manuel Garcia, William Gatewood, and Lloyd McNeill–similarly challenge the boundaries of form and content to capture personal narratives and unique perspectives.
The exhibition continues on the Bloomberg Connects app with an array of additional artwork, songs, and written compositions inspired by CHS patients’ experiences and journeys. Use the QR code below to download the app.
