Medical & Mental Health Care in New York (DOCCS)
How health care works in New York prisons — requesting care through sick call, in-house care delivered by the DOCCS Division of Health Services and its Regional Medical Units, inpatient psychiatric care through CNYPC, no medical co-pay, and oversight.
Health care in New York prisons is requested through each facility’s sick-call process and is delivered in-house by the DOCCS Division of Health Services. Unlike many states, New York does not contract a single statewide private company to run prison medical care, and it does not charge a medical co-pay.
Requesting medical, mental-health, and dental care
Medical staff are on site at every DOCCS facility, and incarcerated people access services on a daily basis through the facility’s sick-call procedure. Physicians are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for emergency care. Each facility sets the specific times and method for putting in a sick-call request, so the procedure is confirmed at the individual facility.
Mental-health care is provided through clinics located inside DOCCS facilities and operated as part of the Central New York Psychiatric Center network (described below). Dental care is provided through the Division of Health Services on the same in-house basis as medical care. Routine, non-emergency care is generally scheduled, and wait times vary by facility.
Cost — no co-pay
New York does not charge incarcerated people a medical co-pay. The fee that the state formerly charged for sick call and medical visits has been eliminated, so requesting care does not carry a charge. Incarcerated people may carry private health insurance at their own expense; Medicaid is generally not available during incarceration.
How care is organized
Care is delivered in-house by the DOCCS Division of Health Services at every facility — there is no single statewide private medical contractor in New York. Care is organized in tiers:
- Facility level. Primary and routine care, sick call, and infirmary services are provided at the person’s own facility.
- Regional Medical Units (RMUs). Sub-acute and long-term care that goes beyond a facility infirmary but does not require a hospital is provided at Regional Medical Units. RMUs operate at Mohawk (the Walsh RMU, the system’s first), Coxsackie, Wende, Fishkill, and Bedford Hills (the women’s RMU). Some of these units also include long-term care and units for cognitively impaired individuals.
- Outside hospitals. Care that cannot be provided within the system is arranged at outside hospitals.
Inpatient psychiatric care (CNYPC / OMH)
Inpatient psychiatric care is not run by DOCCS. It is provided by the Central New York Psychiatric Center (CNYPC) in Marcy, a maximum-security inpatient hospital operated by the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH). CNYPC also runs a statewide corrections-based network of mental-health clinics, crisis (satellite) units, and intermediate-care program beds located inside DOCCS facilities, which is how most ongoing mental-health treatment is delivered.
Raising a problem with care
A complaint about medical or mental-health care is raised through the DOCCS Inmate Grievance Program (IGP), the formal internal complaint process, which has facility-level and central-office review steps and set time limits. Health-care grievances are handled within that process. Records and certain decisions may also be appealed through the program.
Outside the agency, the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) is the independent, statutorily authorized organization that monitors New York’s prisons, conducts facility visits, and reports publicly on conditions, including health care. CANY is a monitoring and reporting body, not a provider of individual medical or legal assistance.
Verify Before Acting
Sources
This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.