DAILY NEWS: New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ New Jails Commissioner Pressured Top Investigator To ‘Get Rid Of’ 2,000 Disciplinary Cases, Then Fired Her After She Resisted

NEW YORK CITY: A highly respected top jails investigator 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....

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