Good afternoon, Chair Salaam, and members of the Committee on Public Safety. My name is Deanna Logan. I am Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ).

I am joined today by Nora Daniel, Chief of Staff, Robert Fiato, Chief Financial Officer, and Candice Julien, Chief Operating Officer.

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss MOCJ’s Fiscal Year 26 (FY26) preliminary budget and priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.

MOCJ is the think tank that advises the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety on strategies to improve efficiency and fairness in the criminal legal system. MOCJ is also an implementing agency that turns those ideas into actual services that benefit our communities and residents.

Recognizing that public safety is a collaboration between many stakeholders, we bring together entities involved in the legal system, city agencies, state actors, nonprofit partners and community members to address issues that undermine the stability of our neighborhoods.

For FY 26, MOCJ’s preliminary budget allocates 787 million dollars toward our services that include re-entry pathways, transitional housing, alternatives to incarceration, pretrial services, indigent defense services, the Office of Special Enforcement, and the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.

Re-entry is a critical component of the criminal justice continuum. Individuals leaving incarceration face significant barriers to housing, employment, healthcare, and education. That’s what makes our community-based re-entry programs essential to long-term success…and safety.

MOCJ invests 26 million dollars a year in re-entry programs, including discharge planning on Rikers Island, job training, and holistic wraparound services.

We use the word ‘investing,’ because re-entry programs are supporting individuals’ successful returns to the community. Stronger communities mean safer communities for all New Yorkers.

MOCJ’s interventions not only reduce recidivism, but also emphasize accountability and the root causes of negative behavior. We invest 32 million dollars annually in “Alternatives to Incarceration” programs – known as “ATI’s” — across the five boroughs. These programs provide services — including connection to mental health and substance misuse treatment – to more than 5,000 New Yorkers each year, helping safely reduce incarceration rates, which ultimately saves taxpayer dollars.

Affording individuals the ability to remain in their communities while receiving the services they need to succeed helps improve outcomes for justice-involved individuals — and their families.

In 2016, MOCJ launched the Supervised Release Program as a pretrial option in New York City. This program provides judges with the option of structured supervision, to boost court attendance while simultaneously addressing participants’ needs.

We’ve maintained and improved those programs since 2020 with our contracted partners across all five boroughs, supporting individuals as they navigate the criminal legal system – while affording them the opportunity to remain engaged in their communities, rather than being detained.

It’s working. Tens of thousands of individuals a year are supervised through:

• Regular check-ins with case managers;
• Court reminders and legal assistance;
• Mental health and substance use referrals;
• Employment and educational support.

Consistent with Mayor Adams’ vision of public safety as the prerequisite to prosperity, MOCJ understands that individuals we support require housing stability as the foundation for their success. Without a stable place to live, individuals leaving incarceration are far more likely to face homelessness, unemployment, and may reoffend.

MOCJ is committed to ensuring that these individuals have access to stable housing options. Our transitional housing initiative is one of the city’s most significant investments in reentry support in recent years.

Building on the success of our COVID-19 emergency housing initiative, we evolved housing supports into a sustainable model of transitional housing, to meet people where they are and provide a direct pathway to permanent housing.

Here we see return on our investment: Transitional housing doesn’t just provide a bed—it is providing a foundation for stability, safety, and success. In 2022, we moved over 250 individuals into permanent housing thanks to our sister agency HPD, provider partners, and Emergency Housing Vouchers.

In support of housing for all New Yorkers, MOCJ’s Office of Special Enforcement plays a critical role in helping achieve Mayor Adams’ goal of maintaining affordable housing options. The office fully implemented Local Law 18 of 2022, the short-term rental registration law, preventing the illegal short-term rentals that destabilize neighborhoods and undermine the City’s housing supply.

The Office of Special Enforcement conducts its work in conjunction with the Department of Buildings and the Fire Department to maintain the integrity of the City’s rental market to ensure that housing remains safe, habitable, and available for New Yorkers.

MOCJ’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes performs critical work to address and prevent bias-related incidents. New York City is a leader on these efforts in our state and across our nation. Hate crimes and bias incidents threaten the mosaic and cohesion of our communities.

We work closely with NYPD, local organizations, national consortiums of cities, and impacted communities to provide education, support and interventions following hate crimes and bias incidents.

We also fund community-based anti-hate initiatives through “Partners Against the Hate,” also referred to as PATH. It includes programs focused on the needs of women and girls, education, and youth engagement.

Working with the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs, we fund the “Breaking Bread, Building Bonds” program, an initiative Mayor Adams began as Borough President, bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds to foster dialogue and understanding through shared meals – ultimately creating a safer, more unified city.

MOCJ’s proud history of innovation continues undaunted. For example, we created the “Intensive Case Management” model to address individuals with higher needs mandated to Supervised Release Program.

Another example is “Project Restore Bed-Stuy,” which invested in – and graduated – a cohort of 30 wonderful young men from a collaborative-focused deterrence model, providing off-ramps from gun and gang violence. Partners included the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Columbia University Center for Justice, Bridge Street Development Corporation and Community Organization Both Sides of the Violence. This is one of the most promising models for disrupting cycles of violence.

We must never compromise an individual’s right to quality representation when accused of a crime – regardless of ability to pay. Which is why MOCJ, tasked with administering the city’s indigent defense portfolio, works closely with the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services (ILS) to effectively administer funding to providers. We also manage the city’s conflict counsel, known as the “Assigned Counsel Plan.”

As part of our transition to our own agency, MOCJ reorganized its personnel resources to create a dedicated team of professionals in our legal division focused on contracts, invoicing, and payments for this large portfolio. Collaborating with our Contracts and Fiscal teams, Fiscal Year 25 contracts were registered timely, and we are on track for the timely registration in FY26.

As I alluded to, the new fiscal year marks a significant milestone for MOCJ: the finalization of our own agency code.

This code facilitated the establishment of our key administrative functions, including the critical build-out of dedicated Human Resources and IT teams to support our innovative work. It’s allowing us to continue providing resources — for the long-term — to our nonprofit partners, as well as the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

Perhaps most importantly, it makes us more efficient. By expanding our technological capabilities, it ensures our policies and initiatives are guided by empirical evidence and real-time analysis.

Our work, from re-entry services to community safety initiatives, is grounded in the belief that healthy neighborhoods are the foundation of a safe city. And our collaboration with the stakeholders throughout the criminal legal system is helping us to identify barriers, tailor solutions, and ensure a holistic public safety strategy.

MOCJ and the Mayor remain committed to investing in people as a pathway to public safety – and with a front-row seat to how those investments are providing return – I’m confident MOCJ is well-positioned to further enhance its impact in the years ahead – benefiting all New Yorkers

Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony and for your continued partnership in advancing justice and safety. I welcome your questions and look forward to discussing how we can further our shared goals.