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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 Creating Within: Art from Rikers and the NYC Health + Hospitals Art Collection, the health system’s first-ever exhibition to showcase creative works by individuals detained on Rikers Island alongside selections from its own art collection. Creating Within invites viewers to reflect on, and to celebrate, the power of creative expression to sustain health and wellness, to support self-empowerment and to transcend literal and abstract restraints under even the most challenging conditions. It features art, songs, and writing by participants in NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services’ (CHS) Creative Arts Therapy program – the oldest and largest jail-based arts therapy program in the nation – and complementary works from the health system’s art collection, one of the largest public art collections in New York City. The exhibition is on display at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull for staff and patients through March 2025. It is accessible to the public indefinitely internationally here as a PDF and through the Bloomberg Connects app. (Use the QR code below to download the app.)

Creating Within is a collaboration between NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arts in Medicine and CHS’ Creative Arts Therapy, two programs that use creative practices to foster emotional well-being and promote healing for the health system’s patients. The exhibition is supported operationally by Woodhull Hospital, which provides inpatient and outpatient care for residents of North Brooklyn, and is funded by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, a New York City-based foundation that strives to improve access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and to foster healthy and vibrant communities.