NEW YORK — Advocates raised concerns about inadequate maternal and mental health care for incarcerated women at Rikers Island during an Oct. 27 New York City Council oversight hearing, calling for expanded community-based treatment and efforts to meet the city’s legally mandated deadline to close the jail complex.
The hearing, held jointly by the Committee on Criminal Justice and the Committee on Women and Gender Equity, examined maternal health care in city jails and legislation addressing the mental health needs of pregnant and postpartum individuals in custody.
Ziyadah Amatul-Matin, a member of the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice, submitted testimony describing the effects of incarceration on women and their families, including the risks associated with inadequate medical care.
“As someone who has had family members incarcerated at Rikers Island, I know first-hand how dire the conditions are there,” Amatul-Matin stated in her written testimony.
She warned that people detained at the facility face continuing threats to their safety and argued that the city’s response to maternal health needs must extend beyond jail-based medical services.
“As a mother myself, I can affirm that pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and parenting do not stop at a jail gate,” she stated.
Amatul-Matin criticized what she described as a failure to provide comprehensive medical and support services to pregnant and postpartum women, arguing that inadequate care can affect both mothers and their children.
“This system is perpetuating generational trauma,” she stated.
She also raised concerns about racial disparities in maternal mortality, arguing that the city’s continued reliance on incarceration undermines efforts to improve maternal health outcomes, particularly for Black women.
Amatul-Matin called for the closure of Rikers Island, including the Rose M. Singer Center, which houses women at the jail complex, and urged city officials to invest in community-based health care and support services.
Her testimony cited a New York City Comptroller’s Office estimate that incarceration at Rikers costs approximately $500,000 per person annually, or $1,390 per day.
She argued that resources spent on incarceration could instead support health care, housing, education and other community services.
The concerns raised during the hearing follow research documenting extensive mental health needs among people incarcerated in New York City jails.
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In November 2025, the Katal Center and the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College published a report examining mental health needs and alternatives to incarceration.
The report found that 87% of approximately 500 women incarcerated at Rikers Island in October 2025 had needed mental health services, compared with 58% of incarcerated men.
Across the city’s jail population, the proportion of people receiving mental health services increased from 44% in 2020 to 60% in 2025.
The percentage diagnosed with a serious mental illness also increased, from 17% to 22% during the same period.
The report documented a substantial increase in missed medical appointments, from 3,626 in September 2020 to 15,823 in September 2025.
It also cited monitoring data indicating that incarcerated individuals were brought to only 53% of scheduled mental health appointments between July and September 2024.
The findings raised questions about the jail system’s ability to provide consistent treatment to people with significant medical and psychiatric needs.
Researchers also found that individuals identified as needing mental health services remained incarcerated longer than those without identified needs.
As of Oct. 31, 2025, people requiring mental health services had been detained for an average of 281 days, compared with 212 days for those who did not require such services.
During the Oct. 27 hearing, the City Council considered proposed legislation intended to establish clearer procedures for addressing mental health needs during pregnancy and postpartum recovery.
Introduction 902-2026, sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, would require the Department of Correction, in coordination with Correctional Health Services, to establish and maintain written protocols for identifying, screening, referring, monitoring and providing follow-up care to pregnant and postpartum individuals with mental health needs.
The legislation would also require the protocols to be published on the Department of Correction’s website and made available to staff responsible for providing care.
Amatul-Matin acknowledged the proposed legislation while arguing that changes to medical procedures would not adequately address the conditions facing women incarcerated at Rikers.
She urged council members to use their legislative and budgetary authority to reduce the jail population and advance the facility’s closure.
The October hearing followed a separate City Council oversight hearing in September examining mental health care throughout New York City’s jail system.
During that hearing, Katal Center advocacy director Yonah Zeitz argued that improving services within correctional facilities would not resolve the underlying problems associated with incarcerating people who need mental health treatment.
“While we support all the bills proposed at today’s oversight hearings, none of them address the heart of the issue,” Zeitz stated in his Sept. 23 testimony.
Zeitz urged city officials to expand treatment options outside jail facilities and reduce the number of people incarcerated with mental health conditions.
The Katal Center and John Jay College report outlined 15 recommendations intended to improve access to treatment while reducing the jail population.
Those recommendations included expanding supportive housing, increasing access to mental health courts, developing community-based treatment programs and improving coordination among courts, correctional facilities and service providers.
The report also recommended bringing approximately 350 secure hospital beds into operation outside Rikers Island for individuals with serious medical or mental health conditions.
The recommendations are connected to New York City’s longstanding plan to close the jail complex.
In 2019, the City Council approved a plan to replace Rikers Island with smaller borough-based facilities. Legislation enacted in 2021 established Aug. 31, 2027, as the deadline to end incarceration at Rikers.
However, the November 2025 report found that the city’s jail population had grown to nearly 7,000 people, substantially exceeding the population anticipated under the replacement plan.
The report also documented delays in developing replacement facilities, raising questions about whether the city could meet the statutory deadline.
Advocates argue that expanding community-based mental health treatment and reducing unnecessary incarceration are necessary to advance the closure plan.
According to the City Council’s meeting record, Introduction 902-2026 was laid over following the Oct. 27 hearing, leaving the proposed maternal mental health protocols pending further legislative consideration.
The hearing brought renewed attention to the health care needs of pregnant and postpartum women in city custody, while advocates continued to press officials to address conditions at Rikers Island and meet the 2027 closure deadline.
