As the new Commissioner for New York City’s Department of Correction, Lynelle Maginley-Liddie shared her vision Friday for improving the city’s troubled jails, “restoration and investment in a safe, secure, humane and supportive environment for each person entrusted to our care.”

“I’m confident that we can restore the department to the levels of greatness we have seen before,” Maginley-Liddie said during a press conference inside City Hall.

Born on the island of Antigua, Maginley-Liddie moved to the United States 20 years ago to pursue a career in law.

In 2015, she joined the Department of Correction and has served as Deputy General Counsel, Chief Diversity Officer and First Deputy Commissioner.

Mayor Eric Adams praised Maginley-Liddie’s work within the Department of Correction, saying, “she has played a central role in the progress we have made over the past 23 months.”

Maginley-Liddie will now lead the Department of Correction through a critical moment. City Hall is fighting to maintain control of Rikers Island.  

Adams insists his administration is turning around decades of dysfunction saying Friday, “we can get it right, Rikers can be fixed.”

But a growing number of voices have called for the appointment of a federal receiver to take over the management of Rikers.

Additionally, a court-appointed monitor tracking conditions on Rikers Island has repeatedly cited a lack of transparencies from the Department of Correction, mismanagement inside the jail, and levels of violence that are out of control.

Councilmember Tiffany Caban described the conditions on Rikers telling NY1, “it’s horrible.”

Caban’s district includes Rikers Island as, “I think the biggest question is, is this commissioner willing to lay out an alternative vision?”