Mamdani chooses formerly incarcerated leader to run NYC prisons Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Saturday, January 31, that Stanley Richards, a former Rikers Island inmate, will serve as New York City’s next Commissioner of the Department of Correction. Richards, who was incarcerated in the 1980s for robbery, later became a counselor helping people transition from prison to life after release and led rehabilitation programs at Rikers, according to Spectrum News and local reports. At the announc