In what is another sign of continued turmoil at the city Board of Correction, five members of the panel gathered online on Monday for an “emergency meeting” to reappoint their interim executive director.

The meeting itself was a surprise as the board, which oversees the city's jail system, convened to make sure Jasmine Georges-Yilla, the board’s general counsel, remained in her interim role for now.

What You Need To Know

  • Five members of the city Board of Correction gathered online on Monday for an “emergency meeting” to reappoint their interim executive director

  • The members were trying to circumvent their board chair, Dwayne Sampson, who had been trying to install a new staffer in the executive director post

  • Sampson said on the phone that he did not want to comment for this story

NY1 later learned the members were trying to circumvent their board chair, Dwayne Sampson, who had been trying to install a new staffer in the executive director post. A majority of the board was trying to prevent Sampson from acting unilaterally.

When reached by phone, Sampson did not want to comment for this story.

Sampson was appointed to the board by Mayor Eric Adams last fall, and is seen as a member closely aligned with the Department of Correction and the Adams administration.

Meanwhile, the board members who appeared at the emergency meeting on Monday are considered more progressive and are more inclined to be aligned with criminal justice advocates.

"The Board met today to carry out our responsibility to affirm our selection of Jasmine Georges-Yilla as our acting executive director. This was consistent with our prior bylaws, and our amended bylaws," longtime board member Dr. Robert Cohen said in a statement to NY1.

The board’s previous executive director, Amanda Masters, resigned earlier this year in protest after the Department of Correction cut off the board’s 24-hour access to Rikers Island security cameras. Masters and board members said that access allowed them to conduct their charter-mandated oversight of the Department of Correction.

The department cut off that access after NY1 aired footage that we received from the board through the Freedom of Information Law earlier this year. That footage showed one detainee who later died on the island being sprayed with a chemical agent by Department of Correction staff.

Board members on Monday created a new search committee to find a permanent executive director. They said they would move the search forward as soon as possible.