The New York City Comptroller’s Office released a monthly update to its Department of Correction (DOC) Dashboard, available here. This month’s release includes four new charts to the dashboard regarding DOC staffing.
- Uniformed Headcount by Years of Service
- As of November 2023, officers with six-to-10 years of service represent 45% of the uniformed correction officers, the largest proportion of the staff.
- Officers with five years of service or less make up 11% of the workforce and officers with more than 21 years make up 2%. The majority of staff, 87%, have between six to 20 years of service.
- Monthly New Hires
- DOC hired only 91 correction officers since the beginning of the fiscal year, a fraction of the hiring rate for years proceeding the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
- Annual Departures from DOC
- As of November 2023, 39% of total departures from the department were staff who resigned, a continuing pattern from 2022 and 2021.
- 18% of DOC staff who left retired.
- DOC dismissed 181 staff members–30% of the staff who left the department and DOC terminated 43 officers–3% of departures.
- Departures by Seniority
- As of November 2023, most of the staff who left the department worked for DOC for six to 10 years.
- In 2021, DOC staffers who worked three to five years left far more than any other groups.
“As we approach 2024, New York City has a lot of work to get done to close Rikers by 2027,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Rather than incarcerate all 6000 people awaiting trial, DOC needs to create a more sustainable and targeted approach further reduce the detained population to fit the 3,300 person capacity of the borough-based jails. Although DOC has fewer uniformed officers now due to resignations and retirements in recent years, DOC staffing levels must align proportionally to a significantly smaller jail population when the new borough-based jails are ready to replace Rikers.”
Key monthly DOC metrics show:
- As of December 1st, DOC jails detained 6,148 people, 14 fewer from the previous month
- 1,819 people entered jails in November, 28 more people entered in October. DOC discharged 1,825 people, 28 fewer people than last month.
- Judges assigned cash bail to over 1,000 people (1,200) in October for the eighteenth consecutive month in a row.
- In November, the average length of detention increased to 104 – a one day increase from the prior month.
- 20% of people held at Rikers had a serious mental illness in October, the last month data is available.
- Incarcerated persons missed medical appointments 13,610 times in September, the last month data is available.
- The average number of uniformed staff totals 6,336, 4 fewer officers between October and November.
- Two fewer officers were on sick leave in November. DOC has 412 officers on sick leave, continuing the Department’s downward trend.
- Violence indicators mostly decreased in November.
- 6 fewer assaults on staff from October with 50 total assaults on staff in November.
- Jails had 61 more fights, increased to 508 in November.
- 15 fewer slashings and stabbings, a decrease to 23 incidents since October, representing a substantial decrease from the prior months.
Comptroller Lander was the first citywide elected official to call for a federal receiver of Rikers Island in October 2022. The Comptroller’s dashboard, first published in August 2022, monitors pervasive issues in the City’s jails, including staff absenteeism, missed medical appointments, and incidents of violence among detained people and staff. It also tracks the jail population every month and length of stay. The Comptroller’s office publishes data to this dashboard monthly to provide increased transparency and accountability over the City’s jail system.
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