By virtue of incoming Mayor Eric Adams appointing him, Louis A. Molina assumed the post of the NYC Dept. of Correction Commissioner on Jan. 1, 2022. He is a veteran public safety leader with experience in military, law enforcement and corrections.

Robert J. Wright 1/l/1896 -- 12/31/1897

Francis J. Lantry 1/l/1898 -- 12/31/1901 1/l/1904 -- 10/10/06

Thomas W. Hynes 1/l/02 -- 12/31/03

Commissioner Molina most recently served as Chief for the Las Vegas’ Department of Public Safety, where he oversaw the city’s jail, deputy city marshals and other public safety officials. In 2018, Commissioner Molina served as the first deputy commissioner for the Westchester County Department of Correction.

From 2016-2017, he served as Chief Internal Monitor and Acting Assistant Commissioner of the Nunez Compliance unit at NYC DOC.

Louis began his law enforcement career as a police officer with the NYPD reaching the rank of Detective Criminal Investigator after serving as an undercover officer, infiltrating criminal networks selling illegal narcotics. He served in various bureaus, including Patrol, Housing, Internal Affairs, Organized Crime Control, Counterterrorism, and the Police Commissioner’s Office of Management Analysis & Planning.

Prior to NYPD, Molina served four years on active duty in the Marines, with the 2nd Battalion 3rdMarine Division, deployed to various parts of Asia, aboard the USS Kitty Hawk and at other assigned posts.

Near the end of active duty, Louis chose to pursue a degree from Chaminade University of Honolulu. Soon after receiving his BA in Philosophy, he joined NYPD in early 2000. Throughout his career, he has sought to add to his law enforcement agency training and on-the-job experience.

John V. Coggey 10/11/06 -- 12/31/08

John J. Barry 1/1/09 -- 1/18/10

Patrick A. Whitney 1/19/10 -- 12/31/13

Katharine Bement Davis 1/1/14 -- 12/27/15

Burdette G. Lewis 12/27/15 -- 12/31/17

With that in mind, he completed courses in international politics at University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and earned two masters’ degrees: one in Public Administration from Marist College School of Management, and the other in Human Rights from Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

In 2014 he was admitted to the United States Department of Justice / Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice Scholars program for Law Enforcement, advancing the infusion of research and evidence into policing policy and practice. He successfully completed this three-year program in June 2017.

James A. Hamilton 1/l/18 -- 12/31/22

Frederick A. Wallis 1/l/23 -- 8/14/27

Richard C. Patterson 8/15/27 -- 9/30/32

Thanks to his expertise, he played integral senior and executive roles in a number of organizations in the public sector, serving as a contract Senior Police Advisor and Instructor with the U.S. State Department, Deputy Chief Investigator with the Brooklyn DA’s Office, Senior Advisor to the NYC Homeless Services Department Commissioner, NYC Chief Internal Monitor and Acting Assistant Correction Commissioner, First Deputy Chief of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission’s Enforcement Division and served as First Deputy Commissioner for Westchester County Department of Correction

Molina has expressed his aim is to implement meaningful change by introducing integral programs that aid and navigate vulnerable populations, thus breaking the cycle of poverty, crime, and abuse.

Louis is an active member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, American Society of Evidence Based Policing, New York State Sheriffs’ Association, and American Correctional Association.

The new Correction Commissioner becomes the 37th or the 38th or the 45rd or the 46th person to be recognized and function as such since the NYC Department of Correction began operating as a separate agency Jan. 1, 1896.

Robert L. Tudor 10/l/32 -- 5/25/33

William J. Cahill 5/26/33 -- 10/6/33

Wilbur T. Wright 11/28/33 -- 12/31/33

Austin H. MacCormick 1/l/34 -- 1/15/40

Col.David "Mickey" Marcus 1/16/40 -- 10/15/40

It all depends how the count is done. If all Acting Commissioners are excluded, even those who served months heading the agency, the number could be 37 persons upon whom the title NYC Correction Commissioner has been conferred. But it could also be 38 as the number of times that title has been conferred.

That's because Francis J. Lantry served two non-consecutive terms; once at the turn of the 19th Century into the 20th and later in the 20th's first decade.

If as this web site believes and practices, the count ought rightly include all those who fully managed DOC as Acting Commissioners when a vacancy existed in the Commissioner post, then the number increases by eight (8) to 45 if Lantry's tenures are considered a single Commissionership. Or the number increases to 46 if his non-consecutive Commissionships are counted individually.

Prior to Jan. 1, 1896, NYC Correction had been part of a dual agency, the Department of Public Charities and Correction. The men and women whose names and thumbnail images appear on this page, their having served as NYC Correction Commissioners, reflect the diverse and rich history of the City and this Department. They include:

• a businessman (Robert J. Wright),
• a union head (Francis J. Lantry),
• a suffragist leader (Katharine Bement Davis),
• a medical doctor (Peter F. Amoroso),
• a leader in charitable services (Thomas W. Hynes)
• a U.S. and Israeli military hero (Col. David "Mickey" Marcus),
• a former judge (Anna M. Kross), and
• a number who rose through the ranks to the top spot (William J. Fraser, Jacqueline McMickens, Gerald Mitchell, James Hunter, George R. Vierno). Cranston also began as a C.O.

Doctor Peter F. Amoroso 10/16/40 -- 12/27/46

Albert Williams 12/27/46 -- 12/31/53

Anna M. Kross 1/l/54 -- 3/30/66

George F. McGrath 3/31/66 -- 1/23/72

Benjamin Malcolm 1/24/72 -- 11/77

Robert J. Wright was the first to head the agency when it emerged after the dual Dept. of Public Charity and Correction was split (1895/6). He was a member of fusion reform Mayor Walter Strong's cabinet that also included Teddy Roosevelt as Police Commissioner.

Lantry was the first to served as DOC Commissioner when New York became a five-borough City (1898). Lantry also has the distinction of being the only Commissioner to serve twice as head of DOC. He even served once as Fire Commissioner.

Others who saw service directing other NYC agencies include Benjamin Ward and Bernard B. Kerik, each of whom later also served as NYPD head; Katharine Bement Davis, who afterward led the City Parole Commission, and Catherine Abate, Michael P. Jacobson, Martin F. Horn, and Vincent Schiraldi, each of whom had headed Probation before coming to Correction.

Both Commissioners Frederick A. Wallis and Albert Williams served as NYPD Deputy Commissioners before heading DOC.

Some listed here served as Commissioners --

• Joseph D'Elia,

  Joseph D'Elia (Interim) 11/77 -- 1/8/78

  William Ciuros 1/9/78 -- 8/12/79

  Benjamin Ward 8/13/79 -- 12/31/83

  Peter Seitchik (Interim) 1/1/84 -- 1/18/84

  Jacqueline McMickens 1/18/84 -- 9/22/86

• Peter Seitchik,
• James Hunter,
• George R. Vierno,
• Gerald Mitchell,
• Gary M. Lanigan
• John J. Antonelli and
• Mark Cranston.

Among the eight Interim Commissioners, Seitchik served about two and a half weeks, Vierno and Hunter each served a little more than a month, Antonelli and D'Elia about two months plus, Mitchell about two and a half months, Cranston and Lanigan about three months total.

The most commissioners to serve in any one year has been three.

In 1933, Robert L. Tudor, William J. Cahill and Wilbur T. Wright headed DOC.

In 1990, James Hunter, George R. Vierno and Allyn Seilaff served.

By contrast, the commissioner serving the most years was Anna M. Kross.

She headed the agency about a dozen years -- from the start of 1954 through early 1966.

Richard Koehler 9/23/86 -- 12-23-89

James Hunter (Interim) 12/24/89 -- 2/2/90

George R. Vierno (Interim) 2/3/90 -- 3/11/90

Allyn Seilaff 3/12/90 -- 12-24-91

Gerald Mitchell (Interim) 12/23/91 -- 3/18/92

Catherine Abate 4/20/92 -- 3/26/94

Anthony Schembri 3/28/94 -- 1/24/95

Because Mrs. Kross served so many years, at such a pivotal juncture in the Department's development, and because she left such an enduring legacy at a time when few woman exercised such lasting influence in the public arena, many assume AMK was the Department's first woman Commissioner.

Mrs. Kross wasn't; she was the second. The first was Katharine Bement Davis, Bedford Hills Reformatory superintendent appointed NYC DOC Commissioner in 1914 before women had the right to vote.

The DOC appointment of Dr. Davis -- she had a Ph. D in political economy from the University of Chicago, a first -- also made her the first woman to run any major agency of municipal government in NYC history and any city uniformed force in the country.

Michael P. Jacobson 1/24/95 -- 12/31/97

Bernard B. Kerik 1/1/98 -- 8/21/00

Gary M. Lanigan (Interim) 8/22/00- 11/8/00 & 12/15-31/02

William J. Fraser 11/9/00 to 12/31/02

Martin F. Horn 1/1/03 to 7/31/09

John J. Antonelli (Interim) 8/1/09 to 9/20/09

The third was Jacqueline McMickens, who rose through the ranks to Commissionership in 1984.

The fourth was Catherine M. Abate named to the DOC post in 1992. She had been Probation Commissioner.

The fifth was Dora Schriro. appointed Sept. 9, 2009. She had been Special Advisor to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Detention and Removal, and was the founding Director of the Office of Detention Policy and Planning for that department. Ms. Schriro, in 1985 - 1989,was NYC DOC Assistant Commissioner For Special Programs. After leaving NYC DOC as Commissioner Feb. 1, 2014, she became Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Servies and Public Protection.

The sixth was former Commissioner Cynthia Brann, veteran penologist, appointed DOC Commissionerby by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Oct. 3, 2017 which she had headed as Acting Commissioner following Joseph Ponte's retirement that he announced May 12. Having been appointed Acting First Deputy earlier in May, Ms. Brann took command of the Department as Acting Commissioner upon Mr. Ponte's retirement taking effect in June. Not only her take-charge performances in her two "Acting" roles at the helm of the agency during the three-month interim, but also her work since her joining DOC as Deputy Commissioner of Quality Assurance and Integrity in August 2015 made a positive impression on the city administration.

Dora B. Schriro 9/21/09 to 2/1/2014

Mark J. Cranston (Interim) 1/6/14 to 4/7/14

Joseph Ponte 3/11/14 to June/2017

Cynthia Brann 10/3/2017 to 5/31/2021

Vincent N. Schiraldi 6/1/2021 to 12/31/2022

Similarly, clicking underlined captions under many of the other Commissioners' thumbnail photos on the page accesses additional information.

Use your browser's "back" button to return to this list page.

More portraits and biographical material links will be added as they emerge from continued research.

All points bulletin: Be on the lookout for individual head-and-shoulders photos of five Commissioners:

• William J. Cahill and Wilbur T. Wright, both from 1933, and
• John V. Coggey, John J. Barry and Patrick A. Whitney from the 1908-13 era.