{"id":62721,"date":"2025-12-06T17:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T17:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62721\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T17:00:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T17:00:07","slug":"soft-on-crime-ex-nyc-and-maryland-jail-honcho-helping-mamdani-reshape-services-for-criminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62721\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft-on-crime ex-NYC and Maryland jail honcho helping Mamdani reshape services for criminals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ex-NYC jails boss who oversaw a huge surge of violence on Rikers Island <\/a>is helping Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani reshape the Big Apple\u2019s public-safety policies.<\/p>\n

Former Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi \u2014 a longtime soft-on-crime, juvenile-justice activist \u2014 is one of 20 appointees named to the socialist pol\u2019s transition committee for criminal legal services. Both Schiraldi and Mamdani are big proponents of mass decarceration and shutting Rikers.<\/p>\n

Critics say Schiraldi \u2014 who resigned in June as head of Maryland\u2019s juvenile detention services following statewide spikes in teen crimes \u2013 is a terrible selection.<\/p>\n

Soft-on-crime, former NYC Correction Department Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi is one of 20 appointees named to socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani\u2019s transition committee for criminal legal services. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n

\u201cVincent 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,\u201d ripped Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schiraldi, 66, served as NYC correction commissioner during the final seven months of 2021 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio \u2013 as violent attacks against detainees and correction officers on Rikers skyrocketed. <\/p>\n

In 2023, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore appointed Schiradli as his secretary for the Department of Juvenile Services.<\/p>\n

But in June, Moore reportedly pressured Schiradli into resigning<\/a> after juvenile crime in Maryland spiked and criticism mounted over Schiradli\u2019s lenient management style, which emphasized detainee rehabilitation over public safety.<\/p>\n

His tenure bizarrely included appointing Joel Castom<\/a> \u2014 who served 26 years in prison after being convicted for first-degree murder in Washington, D.C. \u2013 as a senior official of a new unit reforming Maryland\u2019s juvenile detention system.<\/p>\n

Mamdani is a big proponent of mass decarceration and shutting Rikers\u2019 jail complex. Lev Radin\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Schiraldi also came under fire in 2008 as director of D.C.\u2019s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services for ordering DYRS workers to transport three juvenile detainees to his private D.C. home <\/a>for a holiday cookout \u2013 only to have one escape.<\/p>\n

Benny Boscio, president of NYC\u2019s Correction Officers\u2019 Benevolent Association, questioned Mamdani\u2019s decision to appoint Schiradli to the transition team, saying the union knew Schiradli was a poor choice to lead the Department of Correction \u201cfrom Day One.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe consistently advocated to protect the rights of violent inmates, while he was our commissioner and then hired a convicted murderer to help reform Maryland\u2019s youth corrections system,\u201d Boscio said.<\/p>\n

The Post on Oct. 22, 2021 reported on shocking living conditions at Rikers under Schiradli. rico<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Yorkers deserve leaders who are committed to the public\u2019s safety and the men and women who maintain it. He is not one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messages left with Mamdani and Schiraldi were not returned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, during a 2022 column for the nonprofit Marshall Project, <\/a>Schiradli admitted conditions at Rikers under his watch \u201cfell below [his] already-low expectations\u201d as \u201cstaff absenteeism soared, uses of force [by officers] increased, programming and visitation [for detainees] declined, shank attacks skyrocketed and deaths rose.\u201d<\/p>\n

He blamed the \u201cchaos\u201d at the scandal-scarred jail complex\u00a0not on himself but on the \u201cnation\u2019s racist and destructive fixation on imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Exhibit A for why we need to end mass incarceration,\u201d claimed Schiraldi.<\/p>\n

Responding to a LinkedIn post two weeks ago naming transition committee members, Schiraldi said he\u2019s \u201chonored to [be] part of this prestigious bunch!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ex-NYC jails boss who oversaw a huge surge of violence on Rikers Island is helping Mayor-elect Zohran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[23509,21470,20511,57,9,56,63,65,64,87,1083,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-62721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-correction-officers-benevolent-association","9":"tag-department-of-corrections","10":"tag-maryland","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-rikers-island","19":"tag-us-news","20":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62721","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=62721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}