Jail Unions Gain a Powerful Supporter: The New Mayor
The New York Times
Eric Adams has reversed some measures enacted to regain control over the crisis at Rikers Island, in an early victory for the correction officers’ unions.
Vincent N. Schiraldi, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, was struggling to restore order in the Rikers Island jail complex when he asked a jail union boss for a meeting in the fall.
The reply he received was blunt, Mr. Schiraldi said in an interview. The union boss, Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of the Correction Captains Association, refused — confident that the reform-minded commissioner, who had angered the unions with his oversight policies, would be replaced when Eric Adams took over as mayor. “You’re gone,” he said.
Within weeks, that prediction came to pass.
