Mayor Adams has finally tapped two people to fill long-vacant spots on a five-member commission that has the power to release people held in city jails, the City Council said Wednesday.
The Adams administration has nominated George Goodmon, a Probation Department official, and Maria Almonte-Weston of the Center for Justice Innovation to serve on the Local Conditional Release Commission, according to a notice published Wednesday by the Council.
The notice said the Council’s rules committee chaired by Keith Powers intends to review the nominations in a hearing on Thursday.
The commission has been unable to meet throughout Adams’ tenure because of the two empty slots, as The News previously reported July 16.
Mayor Eric Adams visits Rikers Island
Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office Mayor Eric Adams visits Rikers Island.
An entry on the Probation Department website has said, “More information coming soon!” for at least eight months.
On July 19, days after The News report, the Probation Department rushed out a notice calling for applicants. The job pays $175 a meeting, the notice said.
Once the commission is seated it can order the early release of people serving sentences of a year or less as long as they fit certain criteria. About 300 to 400 detainees of the population of 6,200 would be eligible under the rules.
People with domestic violence convictions or sentences for child or sexual abuse would not qualify.
People in jail awaiting trial are not eligible to be considered by the commission.
The commission was resurrected by the council in 2020 after it was eliminated in 2004, The News previously reported.
Almonte-Weston’s bio states she runs regional programs for the Center for Justice Innovation. She previously worked at Midtown Community Court, which handled low level arrests.
Goodmon’s bio states he serves as branch chief of Manhattan Adult Services for city probation. He has been with probation for nearly 27 years.
They will join the three other members of the commission appointed in 2022: Gregorio Mayers, a City University professor; David Fullard, a retired Correction captain and SUNY Empire State professor; and Lily Shapiro, a lawyer with the Fortune Society, which helps former detainees.
The city jail population reached 6,237 on March 1 compared to 5,666 on July 10, 2022 — a 9.4% increase.
In July, Councilmembers Powers and Carlina Rivera urged the mayor to fill the empty slots as soon as possible, The News reported.
Zachary Katznelson, executive director of the Independent Commission on Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, previously described the commission as “an essential piece of the whole Rikers/public safety puzzle.”
