Our Mission
The Independent Rikers Commission seeks to help the City of New York close the jail complex on Rikers Island, improve safety and the functioning of the criminal justice system, safely reduce unnecessary incarceration, develop state-of-the-art, borough-based jail facilities and secure treatment beds, and repurpose Rikers as a hub of green infrastructure to serve all New Yorkers.
Commission Members
The Commission, chaired by former Chief Judge of the State of New York Jonathan Lippman, is an independent body of 36 civic leaders from diverse backgrounds, such as corrections, law enforcement, victims’ services, business, the judiciary, academia, service provision, healthcare, & formerly incarcerated people.
Hon. Jonathan Lippman (Chair)
Former Chief Judge, State of New York; Former Chief Judge, New York Court of Appeals; Of Counsel, Latham & Watkins
Jennifer Jones Austin
CEO and Executive Director, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
Greg Berman
Distinguished Fellow, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation; Co-Editor, Vital City; former Director, Center for Court Innovation
Hon. Matthew J. D’Emic
Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters, Kings County Supreme Court; Presiding Judge, Brooklyn Domestic Violence and Mental Health Courts
Hon. Randall Eng
Of Counsel, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein; former Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, Second Department
MaryAnne Gilmartin
Founder and CEO, MAG Partners; former President and CEO, Forest City Ratner Companies
Dr. Michael P. Jacobson
Executive Director, CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance; Former Commissioner, NYC Department of Correction
Seymour W. James, Jr.
Partner, Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco, LLP; former Attorney-in-Chief, The Legal Aid Society
Archana Jayaram
Executive Director, Brooklyn Community Services; Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Osborne Association
Hon. Judy Harris Kluger
Executive Director, Sanctuary for Families; former Chief of Policy and Planning, NYS Office of Court Administration
Michael Polenberg
Vice President of Government Affairs, Safe Horizon; Former Co-Chair, Downstate Coalition for Crime Victims
Rocco A. Pozzi
Probation Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Probation; former Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Correction
Laurie Robinson
Professor Emeritus, George Mason University; former Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs
Dr. Noé D. Romo
Medical Director, Bronx Stand Up to Violence Program, NYC H+H/Jacobi; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Jeremy Travis
Senior Fellow, CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance; former Deputy Commissioner, NYC Police Department; President Emeritus, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Former members
Margaret Egan
First Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Correction; Former CEO, Women's Prison Association; Former Executive Director, NYC Board of Correction
Robert B. Fiske, Jr. (1930-2025)
Senior Counsel, Davis Polk & Wardwell; Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Dean Fuleihan
First Deputy Mayor of New York City; Former Senior Fellow, CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance; Former NYC Director of Office of Management & Budget
Herbert Sturz (1930-2021)
Board Chair, Center for New York City Neighborhoods; former NYC Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice; Founder, Project Renewal; Founder, Wildcat Service Corporation
Nicholas Turner
Executive Vice President, Ford Foundation; Former President, Vera Institute for Justice
FOUNDER
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Brandon del Pozo
Assistant Professor of Medicine and of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University; former NYPD Deputy Inspector and Commanding Officer
Jo-Ann Yoo
Deputy Executive Director, Asian Americans for Equality; Former Executive Director, Asian American Federation
STAFF
Zachary Katznelson, Executive Director
Zachary has 25 years of experience achieving change at Rikers and other jails and prisons throughout the United States. He has represented people on death row with the Equal Justice Initiative, men in Guantanamo Bay with the British charity Reprieve, and women convicted of killing their abusers with the California Habeas Project. He helped found and formerly co-chaired Congregation Beth Elohim's (Brooklyn, New York) racial justice team, which uses faith-based organizing to reform the criminal system. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Isabel Burton and their three sons.
Giovana Castaneda, Program Director
Giovana has over 8 years of experience as a community organizer, specializing in base-building, stakeholder mobilization, and policy innovation across several issues. She won over 6 state and local campaigns for immigrant and workers’ justice (including a $15 minimum wage) and for education reform with Make the Road NJ. In 2021, she led a campaign to demand the end of the school-to-prison-to-deportation pipeline in NJ. This included passing state bills requiring yearly reports on school disciplinary actions broken down by race and gender, and higher investment in guidance counselors. To further build the political power of BIPOC & queer youth, she then launched Vote16, a campaign to make NJ the first state to allow 16-year-olds to vote in school board elections. Giovana believes that all fights are intersectional and is committed to continuing these efforts in the criminal justice reform movement.