New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has named Stanley Richards as commissioner of the city’s Department of Correction, a historic appointment that places a formerly incarcerated New Yorker at the helm of the nation’s largest municipal jail system.
The selection marks the first time in city history that someone who once served time at Rikers Island will oversee New York City’s jails. Richards spent four and a half years in prison for a robbery conviction in the late 1980s. In the decades since, he has become a prominent voice in criminal justice reform, most recently serving as a senior executive at The Fortune Society, where he focused on reentry services and rehabilitation for people returning from incarceration.
Announcing the appointment alongside four other commissioner selections on Saturday, Mamdani framed Richards’ elevation as both substantive and symbolic.
“This is not just a milestone,” the mayor said. “It reflects the perspective, judgment and leadership Stanley Richards brings to the work — for correction officers and for the people in our custody alike.”
Richards said his life path informs his approach to the role. He emphasized dignity, safety and rehabilitation as the foundation of a modern correctional system.
“My journey shows what is possible when we choose hope over fear and understanding over judgment,” Richards said. “When we stop defining people by the worst thing they’ve ever done, we create the conditions for real change.”
He added that the administration’s vision for moving beyond Rikers aligns with his own: replacing cycles of confinement with borough-based facilities that emphasize transparency, humane treatment and opportunity.
Union leaders responded cautiously. Correction Officers Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio said the union is prepared to work with Richards, stressing that officer safety must remain the top priority.
“Our expectation is that the new commissioner recognizes the daily risks correction officers face and puts security ahead of politics,” Boscio said in a statement.
Alongside Richards’ appointment, Mamdani announced several other leadership changes:
- Dr. Alister Martin was named commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. An emergency physician and Harvard Medical School faculty member, Martin previously advised Vice President Kamala Harris and served as a White House Fellow.
- Sandra Escamilla-Davies, formerly an executive vice president at Children’s Aid, will lead the Department of Youth and Community Development, with a focus on expanding after-school programs and youth employment.
- Yesenia Mata, a former U.S. Army military police sergeant and head of La Colmena NYC, was appointed commissioner of the Department of Veterans’ Services.
- Vilda Vera Mayuga, who previously led the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, will head the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, overseeing the city’s administrative law courts.
Together, Mamdani said, the appointments reflect an administration intent on blending professional expertise with lived experience to reshape city government.
Does lived experience strengthen — or complicate — leadership in corrections?
Having served time in jail can offer a corrections commissioner rare and valuable insight. A leader like Richards brings firsthand understanding of how policies play out on the ground — how confinement affects mental health, how dignity and communication influence behavior, and how rehabilitation efforts can succeed or fail. That perspective can help design safer environments by reducing tension, improving compliance and supporting staff through smarter, evidence-based practices.
At the same time, lived experience does not replace the need for deep operational knowledge. The risk of blind spots arises only if empathy is mistaken for leniency, or if officer safety is seen as secondary to reform. Effective leadership requires balancing both realities: protecting correction officers while transforming institutions that have long struggled with violence, dysfunction and distrust.
In practice, Richards’ success will depend on whether he can translate personal insight into policies that improve safety for everyone inside the system — staff and incarcerated people alike.
