February 19, 2026
Chair Brooks-Powers and members of the council – it’s my pleasure to be here today.
I’m Deanna Logan, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. I’m joined here by MOCJ Chief of Staff Nora Daniel, and MOCJ Executive Director of Research Innovation Molly Slothower. We are pleased to be with our colleagues Commissioner Sharun Goodwin of the Department of Probation, and Commissioner Stanley Richards, of the Department of Correction. We are excited to welcome them and look forward to working together as they bring new perspectives to addressing the system’s challenges. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss our collective and interconnected work to address recidivism.
Let me begin with a simple truth: Public Health is Public Safety.
Long-term sustainable public safety requires investing in people by providing them with the individualized treatments and supports they need to thrive.
MOCJ’s mission is clear: ensure fairness in the criminal legal system and shrink its footprint by:
- Shifting to a restorative approach for justice-involved individuals
- Reducing incarceration and recidivism
- Coordinating swift and fair processes for the entire justice-involved population
Recidivism & Jail Population
MOCJ’s research helps to direct criminal legal system programming by providing an accurate picture of the overall system.
It’s important to orient us in some of the data concerning the current legal system and recidivism rates.
Since 2022, the jail population rose 24% to 6,836. We have to be honest that this census is a concern and we will need to be mindful and carefully monitor with the seasonality of the summer months. Also, given the Borough Based Jails capacity is only 4,000, there is considerable work ahead. These sobering numbers are important to note given that jail population is interlinked with the issue of recidivism.
Since 2022, the one-year felony recidivism rate of all people in the NYC court system remained at 13% citywide. The one-year felony recidivism rate of people who completed their time in Rikers and returned to the community each year outpaced the general court-involved population, going from 30% to 32% during that time.
Length of stay for complex cases and case processing delays have also contributed to the overall increase in jail population.
Combating Recidivism
Addressing recidivism is beyond the ability of any single agency. We all have a role to play. MOCJ currently supports a provider ecosystem of programs including supervised release, alternatives to incarceration, reentry services, and transitional housing.
We invested in alternatives to jail, which – thanks to our amazing nonprofit partners – offer pathways toward stabilization.
The data is clear: most participants do well in existing programming, but significant gaps remain in the system.
While programs and services exist, the current demand for these resources is higher than the programs can serve. For instance, while we have approximately 800 beds available for Transitional Housing, we know the need of people leaving Rikers is far greater.
Continued system improvements require:
- stronger support for program staff well-being
- better access to appropriately matched services
- environments that foster human connection and clinical excellence,
and a deeper recognition within the criminal legal system of the barriers people face and the strengths they possess.
Supporting High Needs Populations with Care
We also want to note that while capacity is an issue, there is also a need for programming and housing that serve the complex needs of the justice involved population. Given that a small number of people – those with the highest needs – represent a disproportionate number of cases in the criminal legal system, we want to ensure that there are robust services and supports specifically for this high-needs population. These are the people with the greatest likelihood of falling through the cracks time and again, and this group currently makes up about 40% of the city’s jail population. We are able to see in the data that the people who need the most help are cycling through a strained system.
It’s important that we focus on programs and models that prioritize care and support for complex needs.
Pilots and Promising Models
Employing this lens, we piloted some unique models and programs that show promise – prioritizing care and promoting stability for individuals.
ICM
Together with our contracted partners CJA and CASES, and the support of this body, we introduced interventions such as “Intensive Case Management.”
Known as ICM, this program focuses on intense engagement.
- Case managers do more than make referrals.
- They walk alongside participants.
- They help with services, treatment, housing, and court compliance. They stay engaged, even when progress is uneven.
This program has successfully produced reductions in violent felony recidivism among participants.
It’s a continuous work-in-progress; our researchers are studying what’s working and what isn’t, so ICM can continue to evolve into an even stronger solution for the city.
Atlas
We also developed ATLAS, which now sits under the Department of Youth & Community Development. ATLAS uses data to connect high-risk individuals with tailored services and ongoing support. MOCJ continues to provide quality assurance and technical support to the program. Atlas is voluntary, and the results so far are promising. Even without a court mandate, a majority of participants complete all the therapy sessions.
When people have a safe place to live, access to treatment without barriers, and a path to work, we see that they are far less likely to return to the system.
We are committed to making this a reality for more and more New Yorkers by embedding public health across the criminal legal system. At MOCJ, we are coordinating across agencies, to invest in people with the highest needs, so everyone in New York benefits. This process will take time, but we are all aligned on these objectives and committed to accomplishing them together.
Addressing recidivism will require sustained and focused coordination and care across agencies. I will now hand it off to my colleagues at the Department of Probation and the Department of Correction to provide more detail.