The ex-NYC jails boss who oversaw a huge surge of violence on Rikers Island is helping Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani reshape the Big Apple’s public-safety policies.
Former Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi — a longtime soft-on-crime, juvenile-justice activist — is one of 20 appointees named to the socialist pol’s transition committee for criminal legal services. Both Schiraldi and Mamdani are big proponents of mass decarceration and shutting Rikers.
Critics say Schiraldi — who resigned in June as head of Maryland’s juvenile detention services following statewide spikes in teen crimes – is a terrible selection.
“Vincent Schiraldi failed spectacularly at Rikers, was pushed out of Maryland after yet another correctional disaster, and now Zohran Mamdani is welcoming him with open arms,” ripped Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens).
“If this is the braintrust Mamdani is building, New Yorkers should expect more chaos, more excuses, and the same public safety failures that put our city and our jail system in danger in the first place.”
Schiraldi, 66, served as NYC correction commissioner during the final seven months of 2021 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio – as violent attacks against detainees and correction officers on Rikers skyrocketed.
In 2023, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore appointed Schiradli as his secretary for the Department of Juvenile Services.
But in June, Moore reportedly pressured Schiradli into resigning after juvenile crime in Maryland spiked and criticism mounted over Schiradli’s lenient management style, which emphasized detainee rehabilitation over public safety.
His tenure bizarrely included appointing Joel Castom — who served 26 years in prison after being convicted for first-degree murder in Washington, D.C. – as a senior official of a new unit reforming Maryland’s juvenile detention system.
Schiraldi also came under fire in 2008 as director of D.C.’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services for ordering DYRS workers to transport three juvenile detainees to his private D.C. home for a holiday cookout – only to have one escape.
Benny Boscio, president of NYC’s Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, questioned Mamdani’s decision to appoint Schiradli to the transition team, saying the union knew Schiradli was a poor choice to lead the Department of Correction “from Day One.”
“He consistently advocated to protect the rights of violent inmates, while he was our commissioner and then hired a convicted murderer to help reform Maryland’s youth corrections system,” Boscio said.
“New Yorkers deserve leaders who are committed to the public’s safety and the men and women who maintain it. He is not one of them.”
Messages left with Mamdani and Schiraldi were not returned.
However, during a 2022 column for the nonprofit Marshall Project, Schiradli admitted conditions at Rikers under his watch “fell below [his] already-low expectations” as “staff absenteeism soared, uses of force [by officers] increased, programming and visitation [for detainees] declined, shank attacks skyrocketed and deaths rose.”
He blamed the “chaos” at the scandal-scarred jail complex not on himself but on the “nation’s racist and destructive fixation on imprisonment.”
“It’s Exhibit A for why we need to end mass incarceration,” claimed Schiraldi.
Responding to a LinkedIn post two weeks ago naming transition committee members, Schiraldi said he’s “honored to [be] part of this prestigious bunch!”
