Ensuring Effective Implementation
Closing Rikers Island will require a transparent partnership with New Yorkers across the city and with government, including the City Council and the State.
To help keep the plan to create a smaller, safer and fairer correctional system on track and guide it through the hurdles that will arise, Mayor de Blasio has appointed a Justice Implementation Task Force chaired by Elizabeth Glazer, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York. The Task Force combines existing efforts across the city, both inside and outside government, into one centralized body that can shape strategy and ensure progress. Check back regularly for updates from working groups focused on safely reducing the size of jail population, modern and humane jail design, and improving the culture inside jails for both staff and incarcerated individuals.
Justice Implementation Task Force Steering Committee
Ana M. Bermudez, New York City Department of Probation Commissioner
Cynthia Brann, Commissioner of New York City Department of Correction
Cyrus Vance, Jr., District Attorney for New York County
Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney for Bronx County
David Hansell, Commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services
Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney for Kings County
James O’Neill, Commissioner of New York City Police Department
Honorable Lawrence K. Marks, Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York
Michael E. McMahon, District Attorney for Richmond County
Mitchell Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals
Jack Ryan, Office of the District Attorney for Queens County
Richard Carranza, New York City Schools Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education
Tina Luongo, Attorney-in-Charge, Criminal Defense Practice of the Legal Aid Society in New York City
Working Group on Safely Reducing the Size of the Jail Population
Co-Chairs
Elizabeth A. Gaynes, President and CEO of the Osborne Association
Hazel Jennings, Chief of Department of the New York City Department of Correction
Honorable Joseph Zayas, Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters, Eleventh Judicial District of the State of New York
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Chief Assistant District Attorney of the New York County District Attorney’s Office
Karen Shaer, First Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice
Members
Alan Sputz, Deputy Commissioner for Family Court Legal Services, ACS
Ana Oliviera, President and CEO of The New York Women’s Foundation
Carmen Facciolo III, Deputy Chief Strategic Enforcement and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Bronx District Attorney’s Office
Danielle Sered, Executive Director of Common Justice
Divine Pryor, Executive Director of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions
Gabriel Sayegh, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Katal Center for Health, Equity & Justice
Herbert Sturz, Board Chair of Center for New York City Neighborhoods
Ife Charles, Citywide Anti-Violence Coordinator for the Center for Court Innovation
Joel Copperman, Chief Executive Officer of CASES
John Volpe, Special Advisor on Criminal Justice at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Khalil Cumberbatch, Chief Strategiest at New Yorkers United for Justice
Lawanna Kimbro, Chief Diversity and Equity Officer at NYC Department of Social Services
Mike Rempel, Research Director at the Center for Court Innovation
Nick Turner, Executive Director of Vera Institute of Justice
Patrick Alberts, Senior Director for Policy and Planning at Health + Hospitals Corporations
Stan German, Executive Director of the New York County Defender Services
Stuart Levy, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division at the Bronx District Attorney’s Office
Susan Herman, Deputy Commissioner for Collaborative Policing at the New York City Police Department
Tanya Coke, Senior Program Officer Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice at Ford Foundation
Tim Farrell, Senior Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Correction
Tina Luongo, Attorney-in-Charge, Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society
Working Group on Culture Change
Co-Chairs
Brenda Cooke, Chief of Staff at New York City Department of Correction
Julio Medina, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Exodus Transitional Community, Inc.
Patricia Yang, Senior Vice President for Correctional Health Services for NYC Health + Hospitals
Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director of Alliance of Families for Justice
Members
Alethea Simon, President and Executive Director of Greenhope Services for Women
Carole Eady-Porcher, Board Member of Center for Community Alternatives
Christine Pahigian, Executive Director of Friends of Island Academy
Deanna Logan, Assistant District Attorney for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, Chief Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau
Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union
Elizabeth Ward, Senior Director for Operations of Correctional Health Services
Felipe Franco, Deputy Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services
Homer Venters, Director of Programs for Physicians for Human Rights
Jennifer Parish, Director of Criminal Justice Advocacy for the Urban Justice Center
Karol Mason, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Kevin Richardson, Deputy Commissioner of the Department Advocates Office, NYPD
Mary Lynne Werlwas, Director of Prisoners’ Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society of New York
Michael Jacobson, Executive Director of the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance
Mika’il DeVeaux, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Citizens Against Recidivism, Director of Citizens’ Muslim Re-entry Initiative
Nicole Tripplet, Policy Council, New York Civil Liberties Union
Thomas Giovanni, Chief of Staff for the NYC Law Department
Tim Lisante, Executive Superintendent, New York City Department of Education
Valentina Morales, Senior Director of Justice Initiatives at Fedcap
Subcommittee on Programming
Chelsea Kraimer, Senior Career Manager and Community Reentry Coordinator, Getting Out Staying Out
Nora Reissig, Vice President of Exodus Transitional Community
Michael Tausek, Deputy Commissioner of Programs and Community Partnerships, New York City Department of Correction
Steven Kaiser, Director of Policy and Reform Initiatives, New York Department of Correction
Virginia Barber Rioja, Clinical Director, Correctional Health Services
Eddie Rosario, Director of Community Partnerships, Friends of Island Academy
Julia Solomon, Social Worker, Bronx Defenders
Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, Executive Director, Hour Children
Vinny Schiraldi, Senior Research Scientist, Columbia University School of Social Work
Brian Lewis, Deputy Director, Exalt Youth
Marco Barrios, JustLeadership
Subcommittee on Safety, Training and Wellness
Claudetter Wynter, Deputy Commissioner of Human Resources, New York City Department of Correction
Janet Insardi, Executive Agency Counsel, New York City Mayors Office of Labor Relations
Jean-Claude LeBec, Assistant Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives, New York City Department of Correction
Justin Von-Bujdoss, Executive Director of Chaplaincy and Staff Wellness, New York City Department of Correction
Lawrence Dial, Deputy Commissioner of Training and Staff Learning Initiatives, New York City Department of Correction
Tanya Krupat, Director, Justice Across Generations, Osborne Association
Daniel Pollack, Assistant Commissioner, New York City Mayors Office of Labor Relations
Nadene Pinnock, Assistant Commissioner of Human Resources, New York City Department of Correction
Deborah Friedman, Assistant Commissioner for Workforce Engagement, New York City Mayors Office of Labor Relations
Working Group on Design
Co-Chairs
Feniosky Peña-Mora, Edwin Howard Armstrong Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University
Margaret Castillo, Chief Architect at the New York City Department of Design and Construction
Purnima Kapur, Executive Director of the New York City Department of City Planning
Rosalie Genevro, Executive Director of The Architectural League of New York
Stanley Richards, Board Member of the New York City Board of Correction and Senior Vice President at The Fortune Society, Inc.
Members
Ann Jacobs, Director of the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College
Cheryl Roberts, Executive Director of the Greenburger Center for Social & Criminal Justice
Daniel Gallagher, Principal at NADAAA
David van der Leer, Executive Director of the Van Alen Institute
Erick Gregory, Deputy Director of the Urban Design Office at the NYC Department of City Planning
Jean Walsh, Chief of Investigations Division at the Bronx District Attorney’s Office
Jim Walsh, Deputy Commissioner for Adult Programming & Community Partnerships at the Department of Correction
Ken Ricci, President of Ricci Greene Associates
Leonard Noisette, Director of the Justice Team for U.S. Programs at the Open Society Foundations
Lisa Schreibersdorf, Founder and Executive Director of Brooklyn Defender Services
Louis Watts, Executive Director of Crossroads Juvenile Center
Maxsolaine Mingo, Bureau Chief of the Department of Correction
Nick Marinacci, Senior Executive Director of Youth Justice Education and Treatment Programs at the Department of Education
Richard Wener, Professor at NYU; author of “The Environmental Psychology of Prisons and Jails Creating Humane Spaces in Secure Settings.”
Sara Gillen, Chief Operating Officer of Correctional Health Services
Steve Stein Cushman , Executive Assistant for Commercial Law at the NYC Law Department
Veronica Vela, Supervising Attorney in Prisoner’s Rights Projects at the Legal Aid Society
Vincent Grippo, Deputy Commissioner of Budget and Planning at the New York City Police Department
Vivian Nixon, Executive Director of College and Community Fellowship
Research and Learning Advisory Group
Emily Wang M.D., M.A.S., Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and Co-Founder of the Transitions Clinic Network
Bruce Western, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice, Harvard Kennedy School
