By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz on Friday 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.
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 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.
“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 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.”
