New NYC Board of Corrections (BOC) chair Christopher Watler led his first public meeting Oct. 6 on the day Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced his appointment. It certainly left an impression, he recalled. “I’m thinking a lot about it,” said Watler. “I re-listened to the calls on our hotline from people who are incarcerated about what they’re experiencing and the need for help. And the board responds to each of those calls and at the meeting, we play the calls.”
His new role involves leading an independent body designated to ensure the city jails are in compliance with minimum standards. Despite the mayoral appointment, the BOC is not beholden to the mayor or City Council, and the nine board members serve in a volunteer capacity. Watler also remains in his current role as executive vice president of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), which helps formerly incarcerated people rejoin the workforce.
“Christopher Watler has spent his career helping New Yorkers navigate a criminal legal system that too often fails to treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve,” said Mamdani in a statement. “He understands that community safety and justice go hand in hand, and that means improving conditions for people in custody, supporting the staff who care for them, and finally closing Rikers Island. I am confident he will lead the Board of Corrections with integrity and an unwavering commitment to that work.”
Watler, the oldest of three children, hails from Crown Heights. His parents arrived in Brooklyn as immigrants in the late 1950s and instilled a commitment to public service in a young Christopher early on. He recalls how his father and uncle started a church, where his family would volunteer. His mother spent four decades working for the administration of Children’s Services.
After college, Watler’s future felt uncertain, but he knew public service would factor in, so early in his career, Watler worked in youth development, which grew into criminal justice reform work.
“The city is a different place [from] the city I grew up in, and that’s a positive,” said Watler, “but in some respects, it is not great. Our jail system is a good example of that. We’re a great city in New York. We do not have a jail system that matches that aspiration of greatness. I think about how difficult it is for people to get the services they need to be treated well [and] the safety of staff. To have an opportunity to do something about it is exciting to me.”
As Watler settles into his role as BOC chair, the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) hits its 30th anniversary this week. The organization started in New York City but now boasts offices in 30 states. Watler said CEO is currently looking to strengthen the “reentry ecosystem” and combat mass incarceration nationwide.
The city faces a mandate to shut down Rikers Island, where most of the city jails are, by late summer 2027 while remaining behind schedule with constructing the four borough-based jails meant to hold the remaining population in custody after the closure. Meanwhile, a federal class action lawsuit over alleged excessive use-of-force on Rikers led to increased oversight and the recent appointment of a remediation manager with direct authority over the jails after the city failed to implement the initial reforms ordered in the settlement agreement.
All the while, incarcerated individuals continue to die in custody, particularly under former Mayor Eric Adams. Watler said he rebuffed the potential of joining the BOC under the former administration, because he “didn’t have a sense that there was a real seriousness” about fixing the issues that lead to incarceration and reincarceration.
When Mamdani entered office, several prominent criminal justice reform advocates joined his administration to bolster Rikers’ closure plan efforts. Stanley Richards, a reentry nonprofit head, rejoined the NYC Department of Correction as the agency’s first formerly incarcerated commissioner. Mamdani handpicked borough-based jail plan expert Dana Kaplan as the Close Rikers czar. He also brought on former public defender Justine Olderman, who helped reduce the Rikers population during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the city’s criminal justice coordinator. These appointments impressed Watler, who works in similar spaces.
“We’re at an important point where there’s an opportunity for us to really work to close Rikers, address some of the conditions there, and to work more collaboratively,” said Watler. “Everyone wants the same thing. They want safety. They want people who are incarcerated [to be] treated well and have access to the things that they need, so they leave jail better than when they came [in].”
