NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani appoints first ex-con as corrections commissioner

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New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday appointed an ex-con-turned jail reformer as commissioner of the Division of Correction as his administration pushes a rehabilitation-focused overhaul of corrections.

Stanley Richards, who did time within the Eighties for theft, would be the first former inmate to function corrections commissioner.

"Stanley will make historical past on this position as the primary ever previously incarcerated particular person to function commissioner," Mamdani mentioned. "I'll flip to Stanley as we work to construct a metropolis the place justice is on the coronary heart of our corrections system," the mayor added.

Richards was convicted of theft within the late Eighties and served roughly two and a half years on Rikers Island earlier than spending a further 4 and a half years in state jail, in response to reporting from Gothamist and NY1. He was launched in 1991.

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Stanley Richards speaks throughout a press convention New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted in Brooklyn on Saturday, Jan. 31. (New York Metropolis Mayor's Workplace)

In his first remarks as commissioner, Richards aligned himself carefully with Mamdani’s imaginative and prescient and rejected what he described as a punishment-centered method to incarceration.

"As we speak we flip the web page and we begin a brand new period below Mayor Mamdani ," Richards mentioned.

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New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives on the subway station within the Queens borough to go to Metropolis Corridor in New York, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP Photograph)

Richards additionally pointed to his expertise inside the correctional system, together with serving as first deputy commissioner of applications and operations on the Division of Correction and as vice chair of the Board of Correction’s Process Drive to Shut Rikers.

A safety fence surrounds the inmate housing on New York's Rikers Island correctional facility in New York. (AP/Bebeto Matthews)

The appointment comes as New York Metropolis’s jail system stays below heightened federal scrutiny . Earlier this week, a federal decide appointed an out of doors remediation supervisor to supervise reforms at Rikers Island after years of violence, workers shortages and federal courtroom findings that metropolis management failed to repair situations contained in the jails. Rikers was initially set to be demolished by August 2027 by former Mayor Invoice de Blasio.

Requested whether or not he had spoken with the remediation supervisor, Mamdani mentioned his administration had already been involved and emphasised cooperation.

" My administration has, and we sit up for working with the remediation supervisor on bettering situations in our metropolis’s jails, each for these in custody and for correction officers," Mamdani mentioned.

The appointment has drawn warning from the union representing correction officers, which warned that security should come earlier than political ideology.

In an announcement, Correction Officers’ Benevolent Affiliation President Benny Boscio mentioned the jails "can't and won't function as safely as potential if the considerations of our members are brushed apart," including that Richards should exhibit a dedication to "placing security and safety earlier than any political ideology."

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Whether or not Richards’ reform-focused background will translate into improved security and order inside New York Metropolis’s jails stays an open query as he prepares to take over the troubled system.