A federal judge on Tuesday handed control of the infamous New York City Rikers Island jail complex over to Nick Deml, the former head of Vermont’s prison system.
Deml, a former C.I.A. officer who served as commissioner of Vermont’s Department of Corrections from 2021 to 2025, will replace the city’s mayor as the person in charge of decision-making for the second-largest jail system in the U.S.
He will work with New York City’s corrections commissioner but will report directly to federal judge Laura Taylor Swain, who empowered him to take “all actions necessary” to fix the city’s jail system, the New York Times reported.
Deml, 38, did not immediately respond to a call for comment on Tuesday.
Two attorneys who represent detainees at Rikers Island — Mary Lynne Werlwas and Debbie Greenberger — applauded Deml’s appointment.
“The people who spoke with us about Mr. Deml described him as a leader with fortitude, compassion, and political acumen — someone who can bring a steady hand and fresh ideas to a crisis,” they wrote in a statement. “Most importantly to us, Mr. Deml demonstrated in our conversations with him that he understands people in custody need real solutions to the dangerous dysfunction harming them — even, and especially, when those solutions require a break from the status quo.”
Deml has been credited with helping Vermont’s corrections department expand addiction treatment efforts and educational opportunities during his four-year tenure. But he also struggled to help the department overcome some of its long-standing problems, including an acute staffing shortage that created tensions among his employees.
His new gig will bring a wholly different challenge.
Rikers Island houses nearly 7,000 inmates — nearly four times the amount currently imprisoned in Vermont — and has been plagued by years of violence and horrific living conditions. A 2015 settlement of a class-action lawsuit placed the city’s jails under federal oversight. In 2024, Judge Swain found the city in contempt for failing to curb violence at the facility, and she moved last year to wrest control out of the city’s hands.
On Tuesday, she ordered Deml and city officials to submit a confidential report within 21 days outlining how he will run the beleaguered complex.
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