Las Vegas official selected as new NYC jail commissioner

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams named a Las Vegas jailhouse authoritative and erstwhile New York constabulary serviceman arsenic his incoming caput of the city’s jailhouse strategy connected Thursday.

Louis Molina, who oversees the Las Vegas metropolis jailhouse successful his relation arsenic the caput of the Department of Public Safety, volition beryllium the adjacent commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction.

Molina volition beryllium the archetypal Latino to service successful the role. He volition instrumentality implicit the occupation erstwhile Adams is sworn successful connected Jan. 1 and volition oversee the city’s 10 jailhouse facilities, including the troubled Rikers Island complex, which has astir 9,000 corrections officers and 5,000 inmates.

The city’s jailhouse strategy has been marked by turmoil during the pandemic with a spike successful inmate deaths, violence, self-harm and unit shortages. Jail inmates this week announced the decease of an inmate astatine Rikers, marking the 16th decease this twelvemonth successful the jailhouse strategy and the astir since 2013.

Adams said Thursday that helium volition travel a metropolis program to yet adjacent Rikers and regenerate it with 4 jails astir the city. But successful the meantime, Adams said, conditions astatine the installation request to amended immediately.

“Rikers Island has been a nationalist embarrassment and we person ignored it. For acold excessively long, the concern determination has been unacceptable,” Adams said. “It is simply a stain connected our city.”

Molina said the request for betterment astatine the analyzable was urgent.

“We volition not tolerate rampant violence, inhumane conditions and a wide civilization of upset astatine Rikers,” helium said.

Molina is simply a erstwhile Marine who served arsenic a lawman commissioner for the corrections section successful Westchester County, New York.

In Las Vegas, Molina oversaw the city’s jail, on with a tiny constabulary unit of astir 400 employees, including metropolis marshals and carnal power services.