New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Stanley Richards as Department of Correction commissioner in January, making him the first formerly incarcerated person to oversee the city's jails. Richards began his tenure in February.

As a young man, Richards spent two years at Rikers Island after being convicted of robbery. His office as commissioner is inside a converted chapel across the road from the cell block where he was once incarcerated, a dormitory that was emptied of prisoners three years ago due to deteriorating physical conditions.

After his release from upstate prison in 1991, Richards worked as a counselor at the Fortune Society, and over a three-decade career there he rose to become its CEO. He also served in leadership roles at the Department of Correction under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"I offended my community and committed a crime, and I paid my price for it. The truth of my story is a story of redemption." Richards said.

Rikers Island holds the majority of the roughly 6,700 people currently held in New York City jails, up from approximately 3,900 in 2020 but well below the roughly 20,000 held in custody there in the early 1990s. A 2019 city law mandates the closure of all jail facilities on Rikers Island by 2027. Former Mayor Eric Adams opposed closing Rikers and dismissed plans for smaller jails as flawed.

Fifteen people died in Department of Correction custody in 2025, almost all from medical problems, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. The department opened a jail unit at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan to house more than 100 people with acute medical conditions and serious mental illness who were at Rikers Island, allowing the department to close a Rikers building dating to the 1930s in June while ensuring inmates receive medical care.

Richards pledged to work closely with Rikers Island's federal overseer, Nicholas Deml, who previously led Vermont's corrections department. He plans to fill approximately 1,300 staff vacancies to address violence in city jails. The department employs over 7,400 people, including more than 5,700 uniformed officers.

The department is working with court officials and prosecutors to process cases efficiently to reduce time people spend awaiting trial at Rikers and to manage eligible individuals in community diversion programs. Richards is also working to launch jail programs to help inmates prepare for life outside jail and is committed to following a city law restricting the use of solitary confinement, which Adams had opposed and attempted to block.

"Commissioner Richards understands that treating people with dignity is not at odds with keeping communities safe. They should go hand in hand." said Ben Heller, a program manager at the Vera Institute. "It's clear from his own lived experience and professional expertise that he understands that we cannot incarcerate our way to safety," he added.