A federal judge has appointed a former CIA officer to take the mayor’s place managing operations at the jail complex on Rikers Island, part of a decade-and-a-half-long prisoner civil rights case that has now played out over four mayoral administrations.
Nicholas Deml, who most recently was commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections, previously worked as a directorate of operations officer at the CIA and as an aide to U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Swain made the decision public Tuesday. She directed city officials to meet with Deml to begin the onboarding process, including discussing compensation, a start date and staffing up Deml’s remediation team. An initial report is due in 21 days.
Deml, who is also a member of the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice, graduated from Marquette University Law School.
Swain announced in May 2025 that Rikers would be placed under federal receivership, stripping the city’s control of the notoriously violent and troubled facility, after years of discussing the possibility amid advocates’ calls for a federal takeover.
The rulings stem from the landmark 2011 class action Nunez v. City of New York in Manhattan federal court, which cites systemic abuse, falsified records and unconstitutional conditions in NYC jails. In 2015, a consent judgment in the case sparked the push for reform — but since then, Swain said last May, “the use of force state and other rates of violence, self-harm and deaths in custody are demonstrably worse.”
Increased slashings and stabbings, exhausted and overworked staff, faulty plumbing systems that lead to health problems, and bits of crumbling buildings being turned into makeshift weapons are among the grave issues cited at the slated-to-be-closed Rikers Island complex.
Last year, 15 people died in Department of Correction custody.
The Legal Aid Society and the firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady represent the plaintiffs in the case. Both groups applauded Deml’s appointment to manage remediation at Rikers, calling it a “historic step toward ending the egregious constitutional violations that incarcerated New Yorkers continue to endure each day in New York City jails.”
“This decision reflects the court’s recognition that incremental measures and past promises have failed to deliver the systemic change necessary to protect basic rights and human dignity,” Mary Lynne Werlwas, director of the Prisoners’ Rights Project at The Legal Aid
Society, and Debbie Greenberger, partner at Emery Celli, said in a joint statement.
Legal Aid said Deml has been described as “a leader with fortitude, compassion, and political acumen — someone who can bring a steady hand and fresh ideas to a crisis.” Civil rights attorneys urged Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to embrace the opportunity to collaborate on meaningful jail reforms.
Joe Calvello, Mamdani’s press secretary, indicated the office intends to do just that.
Benny Boscio Jr., president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, shared Swain’s announcement of Deml’s appointment on Instagram along with a screenshot of Deml’s bio. “COBA looks forward to working with him,” Boscio wrote.
The NYC Department of Corrections did not immediately return a request for comment.
Shutting down Rikers
Calls have rung out for years to shut down the jail complex on Rikers Island — a plan Mayor Bill de Blasio embraced during his term, setting out an ambitious 10-year timeline that would close down the jail by 2027.
But delays in creating new, borough-based jails have made the initial deadline unrealistic. Mamdani has prioritized reforms including limiting solitary confinement and reducing the overall jail population.
The Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice is among the groups that have championed the push to close Rikers for good.
Melanie Dominguez, the group’s organizing director, pointed to the decades of dangerous and deadly conditions at Rikers and criticized Mayor Eric Adams’ administration for stalling on the closure plans.
“During the previous administration, the conditions at Rikers worsened and the closure plan was abandoned. Since 2022, nearly 50 people have died in New York City jails and violence remains rampant,” Dominguez said in a statement Tuesday.
While receivership is a “tool of last resort,” Dominguez said it’s a must: “In this instance, it is a drastic and necessary measure to save lives.”
“The remediation manager must move swiftly and should be bound to the city’s legal mandate to shut Rikers. Anything less is unacceptable. The Mamdani Administration must also work with the remediation manager to improve conditions, save lives, reduce the jail population, and get the closure process back on track,” Dominguez said.
