Ex-NYPD big to help Rikers crisis

The city’s troubled Department of Correction has hired a former NYPD chief to help head its efforts to bring sanity to a crisis on Rikers Island that’s resulted in the deaths of 12 inmates in the past year.

Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi announced in a memo obtained Thursday by the Daily News that he’s brought on former NYPD Chief of Operations Raymond Spinella (photo) as the agency’s senior deputy commissioner of operations analysis.

“In this role, Mr. Spinella will be directly reporting to the commissioner and advising the executive staff on operational improvements,” Schiraldi wrote in the Oct. 6 memo to staff. “As we continue our mission to eliminate triple tours, Mr. Spinella’s role will ensure that the health management operations and policies are regulated and in compliance.”

Rikers — and Mayor de Blasio’s management of the sprawling jail complex — has come under fire in recent weeks after lawmakers visiting it pointed to overcrowded and filthy conditions, sick inmates, and understaffing that’s resulted in some correction officers working 24 hours or more at a clip.

In response, de Blasio has announced that NYPD officers and private security would be brought in to relieve the burden, and correction officers would be punished if they call in sick without a valid medical excuse. Gov. Hochul has also stepped in, signing the Less is More Act, which allows the release of prisoners being held on minor parole violations, and ordering the release of about 200 Rikers inmates.

Despite those moves, advocates are continuing to call on elected officials to do more. On Thursday, protesters posted up outside Rikers to make sure their displeasure is being heard.

“We are witnessing a humanitarian crisis in real-time,” said Zachary Katznelson, executive director of the Independent Commission on New York Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform. “Over the last few months, we have seen multiple preventable and tragic fatalities at Rikers, including people who were incarcerated for technical parole violations.”