FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 2, 2026
Contact: Contact: Yonah Zeitz | 347-201-2768 | yonah@katalcenter.org
Follow on BlueSky @KatalCenter | #ShutRikers | #CutShutInvestNY
Statement from Katal Center on Mayor Mamdani Appointing Stanley Richards as Commissioner of the Department of Corrections
New York, NY: Over the weekend, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new Commissioner of the New York City’s Department of Correction (DOC), Stanley Richards. Mr. Richards is the former head of the Fortune Society and will be the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the DOC. This historic appointment comes days after the federal judge Laura T. Swain appointed Nicholas Deml as a remediation manager to take control of Rikers Island to reduce violence and address the constitutional violations. Mr. Richards will officially start his tenure as commissioner on Monday, February 16. And by Tuesday, February 17, the City and Remediation Manager Deml must submit a plan to the court, outlining how they will work together.
Statement from Melanie Dominguez and Yonah Zeitz, the NY Co-Directors at the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice.
“Mayor Mamdani’s appointment of Stanley Richards as Commissioner of the Department of Correction marks a critical step toward ending the violence, neglect, and mismanagement that defined the last administration. All of us at Katal, including our directly impacted members, welcome the historic appointment. Not only is Mr. Richards the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the department, but he’s a longtime reformer who’s spent decades working to make New York a safer, fairer, more just city for all who live here.
We also know Mr. Richards as someone committed to closing Rikers Island Jail Complex. Now he owns the responsibility to help make closure a reality. The previous administration fully abandoned the plan to shut Rikers, and it’s our hope and expectation that this appointment reflects Mayor Mamdani’s commitment to get the closure plan back on track.
Until Rikers is closed, the new commissioner will have to work in close collaboration with the remediation manager, Nichoals Deml, to save lives, reduce violence, and address the persistent constitutional violations faced by incarcerated people on a daily basis. This work must start immediately and be aimed toward cutting the jail population, shutting down Rikers, and investing in real community safety: housing, health care, education, and jobs.
Background: #ShutRikers is a campaign of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. Katal and our allies are working to cut the correctional populations and the budgets used for caging people; shut down Rikers Island; and invest in real public safety: housing, health care, education, and jobs.
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