Fortune Society exec. talks criminal justice reform
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Stanley Richards, the new deputy CEO at the Fortune Society, served as the first deputy commissioner at the DOC last year. Photo via the Fortune Society
By Jacob Kaye
For the past seven months, Stanley Richards saw the dysfunction on Rikers Island first-hand, on a daily basis.
Richards, the first formerly incarcerated person to serve as first deputy commissioner with the New York City Department of Correction, said that what he saw in the prison complex that recorded more deaths in 2021 than it has in any single year dating back to 2013, was, at times, “mind blowing.”
What shocked him most was the significant correctional officer staff shortage, which reached a peak in the summer and fall of 2021 and was a major contributor to a rise in violence inside the jail, according to the former commissioner, former Mayor Bill de Blasio and Steve J. Martin, the federal monitor who oversees Rikers Island.
“What I saw was two realities,” Richards said. “One is that there were a significant number of really heroic officers who came in every single day, and worked in strained and horrific conditions to try to keep people safe and to uphold the oath that they took. On the other hand, I saw some officers who were abusing the sick time policy, not coming in at all going AWOL.”
“They did a disservice to them,” he added. “And it was really hard to see that.”
Richards, who came to the DOC after serving with the Fortune Society, recently returned to the Queens-based nonprofit as its first-ever deputy chief executive officer. The organization provides reentry services and advocates for alternatives to incarceration. Richards recently sat down with the Eagle to discuss his work at the DOC, his views on Mayor Eric Adams’ gun violence and criminal justice approach and his hope for criminal justice reform in New York City in the future.
Richards said that one of the most striking things about his time at the DOC was seeing the conditions of the jails.
The crumbling conditions of Rikers Island have also been a contributing factor to the recent rise in violent incidents, according to Richards. Incarcerated individuals have access to glass from broken windows or pieces of scrap metal dangling from the ceiling, putting other incarcerated people and officers at risk.
“The officers deserve better,” he said. “It is unconscionable, the conditions that they have to work in.”
“You have primarily Black and brown officers, predominantly Black and brown people who are detained operating in a system that communicates to them everyday that they don't matter, that they are out of sight out of mind and that they're on their own,” he added. “Hurt people hurt people. That's why we have a system of hurt because the officers don't feel valued, incarcerated people don't feel valued, and the system itself perpetuates that feeling of isolation, minimization and despair.”
Richards, who left the DOC when he was offered the job with the Fortune Society, said that he is rooting for Adams, new DOC Commissioner Louis Molina and the city to continue its work and close Rikers Island for good, preferably before the 2027 deadline.
“New York City is at this moment where it can show the rest of the country and the world that we can have three things – we can have safe and healthy communities, we could reduce violence and we can reduce mass incarceration,” he said. “I am rooting for their success. I hope this commissioner brings back officers, I hope they expedite the close Rikers plan that is already mapped out well in progress. I hope they lean in.”
Not long after Richards rejoined the Fortune Society, Adams released his “Blueprint to End Gun Violence.” The sprawling plan covers all aspects of the criminal justice system in an effort to reduce the recent uptick in gun violence throughout the five boroughs.
While the plan lays out goals to support violence interrupters and community programs, it also spawned the reintroduction of the city’s plainclothes unit, which was disbanded amid racial justice protests in 2020 after, for many years, accounting for a disproportionate amount of police killings and for perpetuating stop and frisk violations.
“I am encouraging the mayor to really have a balanced approach to dealing with safer communities,” he said. “Because I believe we can have a win-win situation – we don't have to have winners and losers.”
Beyond advancing the goals, mission and vision of the Fortune Society, Richards said he is personally hoping to help continue the changing conversation around criminal justice reform.
Amid an ongoing backlash to the state’s reformed bail laws and worries about increasing violent crime, Richards said it's important to focus on the drivers of crime and invest in programs that offer people security and discourage criminal behavior.
“It's not going to be an easy and quick conversation,” he said. “But let's make the investments to continue to reduce the number of people who are in our system and give them the services they need.”
“We all agree on public safety, we all agree that we need to deal with the rash of gun violence that we've seen,” he added. “But making policy around a particular situation or a number of situations that will impact thousands is not the way to go.”
