Phones help connect ex-inmates to health care, housing & jobs
74% went to those with serious mental illness or opioid treatment needs
Part of Adams’ push to tackle mental health & reentry challenges
Mayor Adams Announces NYC Health + Hospitals has Connected More Than 1,000 Medically-Vulnerable New Yorkers Leaving Rikers Island With Smartphones to Increase Access to Health Care and Mental Health Treatment
– New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz today continued “Mental Health Week ” by announced that the city has connected more than 1,000 medically-vulnerable New Yorkers leaving Rikers Island with smartphones as part of its smartphone access program, enabling them to remain engaged in health care, mental health treatment, connect with job and housing resources, and stay connected to loved ones upon returning to their communities. This week, the Adams administration is celebrating “Mental Health Week,” highlighting the city’s multi-agency efforts to support New Yorkers in addressing mental health, ranging from serious mental illness to expanding resources to underserved communities, and advancing Mayor Adams’ 2025 State of the City commitment to make New York City the best place to raise a family.
“Helping justice-involved New Yorkers move forward in their lives and stay out of the criminal justice system is a top priority for our administration, and staying on top of medical and mental health care is a crucial part of this process,” said Mayor Adams. “By putting smartphones in the hands of these New Yorkers as they leave correctional facilities — already set up with numbers and applications to connect them with services they will need — we are making it easier for them to stay on top of their medication and treatment plans so they can focus on successfully rebuilding their lives.”
“As the safety-net provider for New York City, we at NYC Health + Hospitals recognize how important it is to help our patients remain connected to services after they leave our care. This is especially true for our Correctional Health Services patients, which is why the smartphone program is so essential,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Katz. “We’re thankful to T-Mobile and Premier Wireless for their partnership, and to the Correctional Health Services reentry team for helping formerly incarcerated New Yorkers transition back to their communities.”
The smartphone access program through NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services (CHS) provides free smartphones and wireless plans to vulnerable New Yorkers immediately upon their release from Rikers Island at the CHS reentry service center. The Point of Reentry and Transition (PORT) clinic is designed for CHS patients recently released from a correctional facility. Smartphones and service plans have helped former CHS patients connect with health care providers, pick up their prescriptions, and access jobs, housing, and substance use disorder resources. Smartphones have been an especially valuable tool for the 74 percent of recipients who have had serious mental illness or were receiving medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder at the time of their release, and the phones help give easier access to continued medical care.
CHS — the direct provider of health care in New York City jails — officially launched its smartphone access program for the first-ever reentry service center on Rikers Island in July 2023. The phones — donated by T-Mobile — feature customized software developed by Premier Wireless Business Technology Solutions and are pre-programmed with applications and phone numbers that CHS selected to help users navigate housing, employment, and health care in the community. Premier Wireless’s CPR3 program helps vulnerable individuals connect to food and shelter, access telehealth services, develop life skills, find mental health support, strengthen relationships, and more to help them achieve self-sufficiency.
Eligible recipients initially included persons with serious mental illness, individuals who received complex medical care while in jail, and other special patient populations. Eligibility criteria expanded in November 2024 to include all patients enrolled in CHS’ substance use services.
According to testimonials shared with CHS, phone recipients have used their phones to:
- Complete an intake interview for a substance use disorder inpatient facility.
- Connect with the Doe Fund to find employment.
- Select a pharmacy for their post-release medications.
- Navigate to a case management office for housing assistance.
- Make an appointment at a NYC Health + Hospitals PORT clinic.
CHS’ smartphone access program builds on its robust reentry and discharge planning services to ensure that New Yorkers leaving custody are connected with the resources they need to successfully return to their communities. Services include the PORT Line — a general helpline staffed by and for people who are in, or have been in, involved in the criminal-legal system — to provide guidance and referrals after being released from incarceration. Since its opening, CHS’ reentry service center on Rikers Island has served more than 6,300 people to date, offering visitors MetroCards, Narcan, coffee, directions, and more.
The Adams administration has taken repeated actions to help those with mental health needs over the last three years. Just this week, Mayor Adams announced accomplishments in the first year of the “Behavioral Health Blueprint” that include restoring and maximizing inpatient capacity, expanding access to outpatient services, increasing services to special populations, enhancing social work, care management, and peer services, preventing violence and increasing safety, and building the behavioral health workforce.
Mayor Adams has been on the forefront of implementing successful interventions, major investments, and direct services for people struggling with mental illness. In January 2025, following a 2025 State of the City commitment, the Adams administration took unprecedented action to curb street homelessness and support people with severe mental illness by making a $650 million investment in the city’s most vulnerable populations. The Adams administration has also made the largest investment in New York City history in creating specialized shelter beds to address street homelessness. The city has opened 1,400 Safe Haven and stabilization beds since the start of the administration and doubled the number of street outreach teams. Additionally, the announcement included the unveiling of an innovative model, “Bridge to Home,” where NYC Health + Hospitals will offer a supportive, home-like environment to patients with serious mental illness who are ready for discharge from the hospital but do not have a place to go. By offering patients intensive treatment and comprehensive support, Bridge to Home aims to keep patients on a path toward sustained success, reducing unnecessary emergency room visits and inpatient hospitalizations, decreasing street homelessness and reliance on shelters, and lowering interactions with the criminal justice system.
In February 2022, Mayor Adams first launched the Subway Safety Plan to address public safety concerns and support people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, including some of the city’s hardest-to-reach New Yorkers experiencing mental health and substance use challenges on New York City’s subways. Since the start of the plan, over 8,000 New Yorkers have been connected to shelter, with over 2,800 now in permanent, affordable housing. A key part of the Subway Safety Plan is the co-response programs, the Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness (PATH) program, which brings together law enforcement and trained clinicians to conduct outreach on the subways. Since the beginning of PATH, the administration has contacted over 10,800 unhoused New Yorkers and delivered services to over 3,300 people.
March 21, 2025
NEW YORK CITY HALL
SOURCES: NYC.gov , Midtown Tribune,
Big New York news BigNY.com
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