CLOSING RIKERS

Implementation Task Force

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

For a list of additional partners, click here.

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