Federal judge picks ex-CIA officer to take charge of troubled Rikers Island

A federal judge chose an ex-CIA officer and Vermont corrections commissioner to lead operations at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex – wresting control away from city government.

Nicholas Deml, the former head of the Vermont Department of Corrections, is expected to soon take over the Big Apple’s jails that have dealt with dangerous conditions for staff and inmates for years, according to an order issued Tuesday.

US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the city and Deml, officially called a remediation manager, to promptly meet so the two sides can hash out a plan for his arrival.

Nicholas Deml, the former commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections. SDNY

Deml was credited with implementing reforms to “stabilize the workforce, improve health care for those in custody, and foster culture changes” in Vermont prisons between 2021 and 2025, according to an appendix attached the court ruling.

But the state’s corrections department faced heat under his leadership for not attending to some prisoners’ medical needs closely enough with an increase in deaths in 2022 and 2023, according to local reporting.

Deml also faced questions for hiring a new company to provide health services in 2023 that had been accused of providing poor care to prisoners, according to Vermont Public radio.

“There’s a million things I still would like to do and projects that are still out there,” Deml told Vermont Public as he was stepping down in August 2025.

“But I think the department’s in good shape. I think we’ve set really good foundations for the next leader.”

Deml’s appointment comes after Swain seized control of the city’s jail system in May and signaled an outside official would be brought in to have ultimate say over operations at the lockups. 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has acknowledged the horrid conditions at Rikers, issued an executive order near the start of his term directing jail officials end solitary confinement and improve other standards. 

Rikers has faced years of problems. AP

“The mayor believes that our jail system must do better than the history of dysfunction and disorder that has plagued it for too long, and looks forward to working closely and collaboratively with the new remediation manager to improve conditions on Rikers Island,” a mayor’s office spokesperson said Tuesday.

Mamdani has yet to pick a new Department of Correction commissioner and with Eric Adams holdover Lynelle Maginley-Liddie still at the helm.

The correction officers’ union said it looked forward to working with Deml and voicing their concerns to him.

“Correction Officers, have faced unprecedented challenges in recent years and it is our hope, that as a former Correction manager, the new Remediation Manager understands the critical role our workforce plays in maintaining safety and security for everyone in our correction facilities and the dangers we face every day,” COBA president Benny Boscio said in a statement.

Deml has also served as the a directorate of operations officer at the CIA and was an aide to US Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) on the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to his bio.

Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick