The head of the watchdog agency overseeing city jails plans to resign amid ongoing friction with the Department of Correction over transparency, according to sources familiar with her plan but not authorized to speak publicly.
Gothamist requested a resignation letter from Amanda Masters, who was appointed executive director of the Board of Correction in March of last year. She replied via email: “I have not written one yet.” But sources close to Masters confirmed she told colleagues of her plans.
The resignation was first reported by City & State.
The expected resignation comes as Mayor Eric Adams’ correction commissioner, Louis Molina, is resisting Board of Correction oversight. Last year, Molina made the unprecedented move of skipping two consecutive Board of Correction hearings and not sending staff to attend in his stead.
And last month, following media reports featuring video stills from inside the jails, Molina limited the Board of Corrections’ access to security video, saying they’d have to view footage at department headquarters. In December, Gothamist revealed images from inside Rikers Island showing a man defecating in his shorts due to a lack of toilets and then being left unattended for 11 hours; a detainee who was locked in a cage shower for nearly 24 hours before he injured himself; and incarcerated people dragging sick people to medical care.
The board says that access to the security footage is a critical oversight tool.
Masters was seen by criminal justice activists as an aggressive watchdog. The board issued three reports during her tenure detailing some of the reasons behind deaths of detainees, including correction officer negligence. Last year, the jails’ death rate reached its highest mark in 25 years, with 19 deaths. Last weekend, a 65-year-old man died following a seizure.
About a decade ago, Masters served as the board’s deputy executive director and interim executive director.
On her LinkedIn page, Masters said that during her tenure the agency expanded the board’s staff, pushed for the removal of caged showers used for punitive confinement, and advocated for increasing officers’ use of the opioid counteractive Narcan.
As Masters prepares to exit, two reform-minded board members are set to attend their first meeting on Tuesday: Rachael Bedard, who worked as a doctor at Rikers, and DeAnna Hoskins, president of the decarceration group JustLeadershipUSA. The meeting's agenda includes a proposal to reduce the number of times that the board meets each year, as well as a ban on physical mail being sent to Rikers detainees.
