Mayor Mamdani has vowed to “make city government the most efficient it can be,” and has started to address one of the most glaring, least defensible inefficiencies in the city’s budget: a Department of Correction (DOC) that operates with staffing ratios four times higher than the average jail system, leading to annual operating costs of nearly half a million dollars per incarcerated person.
Mamdani’s Executive Budget rightly addresses some of this excess, trimming DOC’s uniformed headcount by 586 positions, and putting the city on track to save $78 million next year. But because DOC’s budget has been allowed to balloon so drastically, there is more to do. DOC currently has fewer than 6,700 people in their custody. With just under 6,500 uniformed staff budgeted for next year, DOC will still have nearly as many officers as they have detainees.
If Mamdani makes good on his promise to reduce incarceration, this staffing ratio will grow more excessive, along with per-person costs. Eliminating remaining vacancies could save an additional $96 million to invest in evidence-based programs that help people overcome poverty, trauma, and systemic barriers and are proven to reduce costly incarceration.
As of Jan. 1, DOC had fewer than 5,800 officers on staff and 1,300 vacancies that have persisted for years, despite expensive recruitment campaigns, lowered eligibility standards, and increased wages. Meanwhile, New York faces a legal and moral obligation to reduce the number of people in jail, permanently close Rikers. According to the Independent Rikers Commission, the borough-based jail system will require no more than 3,240 officers — roughly 50% of DOC’s current authorized headcount.
In the past several years, unspent funds from DOC vacancies have been gobbled up by shocking overtime costs that exceed $30 million monthly. But historical spending doesn’t suggest that hiring more officers will reduce overtime. Without better management, it could amount to more unchecked spending. Payroll records show that 58 of the top 100 overtime users in the city were DOC employees.
While there are some indications of misuse, for many officers, the excess OT is unwanted. Officers have also said in Board of Correction meetings that our city should divert people with serious mental health needs into appropriate treatment, rather than relying on them to fill in for shameful gaps in our public health system.
With an additional $20 million in this year’s budget, we could bring transformative alternative to incarceration (ATI) and reentry programs to scale in our city. With an additional $6.9 million, we could double ATI programs’ capacity to serve young adults with mental health needs. With an additional $20.3 million, we could open 150 units of low-barrier housing for people with serious mental illness and court involvement. Cutting just half of DOC’s remaining vacancies would fully fund these essential programs.
New Yorkers should not be asked to accept that our jail system operates four times less efficiently than most others, let alone foot the bill for it while programs that actually deliver safety remain underfunded. Rightsizing DOC by reducing vacancies is the kind of structural correction the moment demands, where justice meets fiscal sense.
Smart and courageous action to cut DOC’s remaining vacancies can free up nearly $100 million more next year to deliver on the mayor’s community safety commitments that inspired hope in so many people.
Rodriguez is a policy research associate with the Legal Action Center. Mack is co-director of Freedom Agenda. Both organizations are partners in the Campaign to Close Rikers.