Council Member Morano questions infants living in Rikers nursery

Thank you.

Thank you both chairs for highlighting such an important topic.

Thank you all for your testimony and for being here.

Your testimony described the nursery at the Rose M.

Singer Center where eligible mothers can live with their babies until their child's first birthday.

And I certainly understand the rationale for keeping mothers and infants together.

But there's something pretty extraordinary about the fact that New York City has babies living inside a jail.

And I don't know that a lot of New Yorkers are totally aware of this.

So my question is.

How many, just to follow up on what Chair Brooks-Powers was asking, but how many infants are currently living on Rikers Island, and how many have lived there over the past five years?

Currently, there is one infant, and since 2022, we have had eight infants.

What happens when one of those infants has a medical emergency?

Is there a pediatrician on site around the clock, or does that baby have to be transported off of Rikers?

So our clinical staff would respond to a medical emergency and then initiate a transfer to Elmhurst Hospital, which is also where babies receive their general routine care.

Has the city ever conducted an independent assessment of whether Rikers Island is an appropriate environment for an infant as opposed to some alternative secure setting that allows mother and child to remain together?

I was going to say I actually can't speak on if there has been an assessment that's been facilitated.

I think most importantly, what has been assessed is the importance of the parental bonding time and ensuring that we're offering bonding between the parent and the child.