New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday appointed an ex-con-turned prison reformer as commissioner of the Department of Correction as his administration pushes a rehabilitation-focused overhaul of corrections.Stanley Richards, who did time in the 1980s for robbery, will be the first former inmate to serve as corrections commissioner.”Stanley will make history in this role as the first ever formerly incarcerated person to serve as commissioner,” Mamdani said. “I will turn to Stanley as we work to build a city where justice is at the heart of our corrections system,” the mayor added.Richards was convicted of robbery in the late 1980s and served roughly two and a half years on Rikers Island before spending an additional four and a half years in state prison, according to reporting from Gothamist and NY1. He was released in 1991.MAMDANI APPOINTS CONVICTED ARMED ROBBER TO PUBLIC SAFETY TRANSITION TEAMIn his first remarks as commissioner, Richards aligned himself closely with Mamdani’s vision and rejected what he described as a punishment-centered approach to incarceration.”Today we turn the page and we start a new era under Mayor Mamdani,” Richards said.MAMDANI SIGNALS DISBANDING NYPD PROTEST UNIT, CALLS FOR HIGHER TAXES ON TOP 1% AMID BUDGET RECKONINGRichards also pointed to his experience within the correctional system, including serving as first deputy commissioner of programs and operations at the Department of Correction and as vice chair of the Board of Correction’s Task Force to Close Rikers.The appointment comes as New York City’s jail system remains under heightened federal scrutiny. Earlier…
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