A highly respected top jails investigator says Mayor Adams’ new correction commissioner abruptly fired her after demanding she “get rid of” an impossibly large number of pending use-of-force disciplinary cases against staff.
Sarena Townsend, who was praised by the federal monitor overseeing Rikers Island, told the Daily News that Correction Commissioner Louis Molina’s request she do away with 2,000 cases in 100 days was “crazy.”
“He either didn’t understand the process or he just wanted me to dismiss cases,” said Townsend, the former deputy commissioner of investigations and trials. “That was troubling. “
Molina’s predecessor, Vincent Schiraldi, said the demand may signal “the unions are running the place.”
“People have a right to due process in disciplinary cases, so the only way to rapidly get rid of thousands of cases is to have a fire sale,” Schiraldi said. If the unions take every case to trial, he said, the Correction Department would have to “offer ridiculously low outcomes for very serious cases. That’s inappropriate.”
Townsend’s account of her unexpected firing, shared exclusively with the Daily News, comes amid rapidly shifting power dynamics at Rikers Island. The jail unions frequently clashed with Mayor de Blasio and Schiraldi, who they criticized for coddling increasingly violent inmates. Those same unions have praised the appointment of Molina, a former NYPD detective and chief of the Las Vegas Department of Public Safety.
Meanwhile, Rikers Island has been mired since last summer in what elected officials have described as an ongoing “humanitarian crisis.” An estimated 200 inmates are currently on a hunger strike over miserable conditions and lack of basic services.
Townsend’s firing has implications for federal oversight of the jails.
On Nov. 22, Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain named Townsend the Correction Department’s disciplinary manager. Swain ordered that the department have a “bona fide” reason to replace her. The department also had to explain to the federal monitor if she was let go.
Molina has not publicly explained his decision for dismissing Townsend, who faced relentless criticism from jail unions.
During Tuesday’s Board of Correction meeting, Molina referred to an unspecified “personnel matter” as a reason for the firing.
In a statement to The News, the Correction Department said dismissing Townsend was within Molina’s authority.
“Every commissioner has full discretion on personnel decisions, and the suggestion that we would intentionally ignore outstanding disciplinary cases is outrageous and unrealistic, given our work with the federal monitor in this area,” the statement said. “We will continue to follow well-established disciplinary guidelines and protocols.”
Adams said he trusted Molina to “get Rikers under his control.”
“We have to allow him to build his team,” Adams added.
Townsend’s firing stunned jail observers. On Dec. 22, the federal monitor praised her work reducing a backlog of roughly 8,000 disciplinary cases.
“Deputy Commissioner Townsend is highly competent and possesses the qualities and expertise needed to fill this role,” the monitor wrote. [Her] continued leadership and expertise is critical to the success of this reform effort.”
The monitor has repeatedly cited the disciplinary backlog on use-of-force cases against staff, some which have been pending for three years, for “a lack of timely accountability” that fuels dysfunction at the jail.
“The overall disciplinary process is convoluted and inefficient and the system is overwhelmed,” the monitor wrote in June 2021.
The decision to fire her, Townsend suspects, was put in motion following a Dec. 17 meeting at Correction Department headquarters. Adams, then the mayor-elect, had introduced Molina as his pick for commissioner the day prior.
“He wanted to talk about discipline, caseload and the backlog. He says, ‘How are you going to get rid of 2,000 cases in the first 100 days?'” Townsend said.
“I’m thinking, ‘That’s crazy.’ And those specific numbers led me to believe he already had a conversation with someone, and it told me he knows nothing about being a lawyer litigating cases.”
Townsend had just struck a deal with the federal monitor to close out 400 cases by April, a number she saw as a major accomplishment.
Molina’s demand to dismiss 2,000 cases didn’t make sense, she said, because litigation over discipline requires agreement from both sides.
Townsend suggested she could refocus on non-use-of-force cases, like off-duty arrests , but she said there were clear guidelines she had to follow on uses of force.
“He said, ‘Well, I don’t know if we have to adhere to those guidelines for-use-of force cases,'” she said. “I was in an awkward position. I was disciplinary manager. He would have to put in writing why he disagreed and give it to the monitor. I didn’t say anything at that time.”
Molina then asked her how many cases she could dismiss outright, she said. “What kind of an investigator would I have been had I agreed?'” she said. “The cases are on video. The evidence is there. We can argue about penalty, but you can’t ask me to just dismiss cases.”
Townsend agreed to examine the non-use-of-force cases and explained the process. “I see his eyes drifting off,” she said. “Then he said once again, ‘Can you get 2,000 cases done in 100 days?’ Right back to the same talking point.”
The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association declined comment.
Townsend joined the Department of Correction in 2016 after a career at the Brooklyn district attorney’s office. She was promoted in 2018 to deputy commissioner of investigations and trials and in 2021 assumed control of the intelligence bureau.
“She was known as being a tenacious advocate, for being an excellent colleague, universally respected for her professionalism and her skill,” said Adam Uris, a former prosecutor in Brooklyn who is now a defense lawyer.
“My impression was that she was conscientious and diligent and doing the best she could under very difficult circumstances to bring a higher level of accountability to the process and we were somewhat perplexed by the summary dismissal,” said civil rights lawyer Jonathan Abady, one of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit that resulted in the monitor’s oversight.
Nadene Pinnock, the department’s deputy commissioner for human resources, delivered the message that Townsend had been fired on Jan. 3.
“She said, ‘At this time, the commissioner has chosen to separate you from the agency.’ I felt like I was punched in the gut. My first words were, ‘Are you serious?'” Townsend recalled.
Pinnock told her it was Molina’s decision, but gave no reason why, she said. “She said I can’t speak for him,” she said.
Pinnock declined Townsend’s request to speak with Molina. The firing was effective immediately. “I did cry then because I couldn’t say goodbye to my staff, I couldn’t tie up loose ends,” she said.
She said she surrendered her phone and badge and was “perp-walked” out of Correction Department headquarters.
“I’ve never experienced anything so surreal in my life,” she told The News.
At the Board of Correction meeting Tuesday, Correction Department general counsel Asim Rehman touted the reduction in the disciplinary backlog — without crediting Townsend. “The department has made very strong strides in the timeliness of its investigations of use-of-force incidents,” he said.