{"id":208916,"date":"2026-04-24T23:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/208916\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T23:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:01:08","slug":"corrections-director-wayne-salisbury-will-depart-for-job-at-rikers-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/208916\/","title":{"rendered":"Corrections Director Wayne Salisbury will depart for job at Rikers Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rhode Island\u2019s state prison system boss is leaving for a job at New York City’s well-known Rikers Island jail.<\/p>\n

Director of Corrections Wayne Salisbury, in a letter to staff Friday obtained by NBC 10 News, announced he is departing.<\/p>\n

The letter came after Gov. Dan McKee earlier in the morning acknowledged talk of Salisbury\u2019s departure during an appearance on WPRO radio when a caller asked about rumors Salisbury is leaving.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sign for Rikers Island in New York City. (CNN)<\/p>\n

In his letter, Salisbury wrote, \u201cAlthough I had planned to share with you personally my decision to leave the Department for a new opportunity, I write today to convey my profound gratitude for our time together and all that we have accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

“It is with a heavy heart that I have made the decision to move on to my next challenge. I have accepted a position working for the receiver appointed by the U.S. Southern District Court of New York at Rikers Island in late June,\u201d Salisbury wrote.<\/p>\n

McKee told NBC 10 News on Friday: \u201cWe like Wayne where he is. He\u2019s done a really good job. If any one of our department heads choose to move on to something else, we\u2019re going to try to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The correctional officers’ union would disagree with McKee\u2019s assessment of Salisbury.<\/p>\n

The union vigorously fought McKee’s nomination<\/a> of Salisbury for the post of Director of Corrections in 2024.<\/p>\n

At that time, Salisbury had been serving as the interim leader of the department for more than a year.<\/p>\n

The union claimed the level amount of violence and drugs in the prison system had drastically increased under Salisbury\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n

\"Corrections<\/p>\n

Corrections Director Wayne Salisbury speaks to the media after the Rhode Island Ethics Commission hears a complaint against him. (WJAR)<\/p>\n

The battle included the union filing an ethics complaint against Salisbury<\/a> over undisclosed out of state travel.<\/p>\n

Salisbury ultimately agreed to a $200 ethics fine following his confirmation as director.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is not the guy for this job,\u201d union leader Richard Ferruccio told NBC 10 News on Friday.<\/p>\n

Ferruccio, who led the charge against Salisbury, maintains, \u201cThe prison is a mess right now. I think we\u2019re on the edge of a crisis. I\u2019ll be shocked if we get through the summer without a major incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a real contentious relationship over the last couple of years. And some of the decisions he\u2019s made have had a real chilling effect on the operations of our facilities, primarily in the discipline process. There is no accountability for inmates and we\u2019re paying the price for that right now,\u201d Ferruccio told NBC 10 News.<\/p>\n

NBC 10 News asked the Department of Corrections for an interview with Salisbury Friday but did not immidately receive an answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rhode Island\u2019s state prison system boss is leaving for a job at New York City’s well-known Rikers Island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-208916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}