Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Commission members Leo Diaz and Stanley Richards share insights on their work and findings
0:20:38
·
122 sec
Leo Diaz and Stanley Richards, members of the Independent Rikers Commission, provide personal insights into their backgrounds and the commission's work.
- Leo Diaz shares his 34-year experience in corrections and his success in Westchester County
- Stanley Richards emphasizes the commission's broad outreach and inclusion of diverse voices
- Highlights engagement with victim service organizations and their recognition of mental health issues in jails
- Stresses the importance of community input and the recognition that incarcerating people with mental illness doesn't enhance public safety
Leo Diaz
0:20:38
So again, Leo Diaz.
0:20:41
Recently retired in October of twenty twenty three.
0:20:45
Prior to that, I worked for the Department of Corrections in Westchester County for thirty four years.
0:20:48
I went up the rank and retired as deputy commissioner of operations.
0:20:54
I think we had great success while in Westchester.
0:20:58
We at one point, we were under a federal agreement, but we got out of it in record time.
0:21:03
And I thought it was important for me after retirement to kind of join this committee and bring my success and my experience from Westchester to help out with Rikers in any way that I could.
Stanley Richards
0:21:14
Stan?
0:21:15
And part of the committee work that we did, we talked with victim service providers and we talked with community members.
0:21:22
We really wanted to make sure that our recommendations reflected what we were hearing from community members.
0:21:29
We engaged the Department of Corrections.
0:21:32
So this report is not made in absence of their reflections and their concerns.
0:21:39
It is made with their reflections and concerns.
0:21:42
So we really wanted to make sure that the report was reflective of the diversity of our city, the diversity of the communities impacted by mass incarceration and returning people returning home and the families.
0:21:58
So we did broad outreach to make sure we included the voices.
0:22:02
And one of the things that really stood out for me was that when we did engagement with the victim services organizations and we did surveys, What they said was they recognize that there are people with mental illness being detained in our jails, that our jails are basically psychiatric facilities that shouldn't be.
0:22:23
They understand that having people incarcerated as a result of their mental illness doesn't make our community safer, it doesn't make our city safer, and it doesn't make them feel valued and appreciated.
0:22:36
And so that voice is included in our report.
Joshua Varner
0:22:40
And I