NYC Prisons to Toughen Hiring Rules Amid Recruitment Scandal

New York City prisons will toughen recruitment procedures, following a scandal which revealed about one-third of employees had prior convictions, criminal gang ties and psychological problems.

NEW YORK, January 15 (Sputnik) – New York City's jail facilities are in for an overhaul of hiring procedures after a damning probe revealed one-third of New York City correctional officers have mental issues, links to criminal gangs or other issues, Department of Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte told Sputnik on Thursday.

"Improving staff recruitment, training and retention is a key part of my agenda of meaningful reform. My earliest actions as commissioner included providing new leadership for our staff recruiting and training operations," Ponte told Sputnik in a statement on Thursday.

He said "significant changes" had already been made to the Applicant Investigation Unit, which vets candidates for correctional officer roles. Ponte said many changes were based on recommendations from the NYC Department of Investigation, the agency that published the report.

"Because at the end of the day, our performance is only as strong as the men and women who fill the posts that keep our facilities operating 24/7," the correction commissioner stressed.

Ponte said that hiring would now involve more stringent checks on applicants' employment history, previous convictions, court summonses and driving records. Negative results could automatically disqualify candidates, he said.

Department of Investigation researchers scrutinized records of 153 employees of New York City's Rikers Island jail complex. It found that about one-third had questionable backgrounds, including prior convictions, criminal gang ties and psychological problems.

The flawed hiring process is the result of several factors, including poor recruitment efforts, inadequate training for investigators and a bad applicant evaluation procedure, according to the investigation.