Job Description

The New York City Board of Correction (“BOC”) is a nine-person, non-judicial oversight board, which regulates, monitors, and inspects the correctional facilities of the City. Established in 1957, BOC is one of the earliest independent oversight boards of custodial and detention settings in the United States. The Mayor, City Council and presiding justices of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for the First and Second Judicial Departments (in joint nomination with the Mayor) appoint its members. The City Charter mandates the Board’s five functions:

• Establish and ensure compliance with minimum standards for the care, custody, correction, treatment, supervision, and discipline of all persons held or confined under the jurisdiction of the Department of Correction (“DOC”);

• Investigate serious incidents;

• Review grievances from people in custody and staff;

• Evaluate the performance of DOC; and

• Make recommendations on areas of key correctional planning.

The Board established the Minimum Standards on conditions of confinement in 1979, mental health care in 1985, and health care in 1991. In 2007, BOC finished a comprehensive review of the Minimum Standards and adopted a series of amendments. Since 2014, the Board has engaged in rulemaking five times, including rules related to the prevention of sexual violence, reporting on serious injuries, and the elimination of punitive segregation or solitary confinement.

With offices in lower Manhattan and Rikers Island, BOC works regularly with DOC and Health + Hospitals, and often with other partners, on a wide range of criminal justice issues germane to its oversight responsibilities. BOC is a key municipal partner in the movement for safer, smaller, fairer, more humane jails, which minimize negative consequences, such as violence to persons in custody and staff. The Board brings to this work a strong emphasis on public reporting.

With new staff leadership, funding, and Board members, along with increased public attention and significant jail reform efforts underway, BOC is in a period of growth and change.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Board seeks a Research & Compliance Associate with a passion for evidence-based approaches, data-driven decision-making, and justice, fairness and excellence in corrections. This is an opportunity to join an emerging research & compliance unit within a nationally unique institution with extensive and broad powers of access and oversight. The Board’s research & compliance team will work in collaboration with the monitoring team to measure and monitor DOC’s compliance with the Minimum Standards. The team also will conduct primary and secondary research, using its unique access to the jails and DOC data.

The Board’s research & compliance team will play a critical role in encouraging compliance with existing regulations, catalyze and inform new regulations, and support other innovations within the jails and the criminal justice system.

The Research & Compliance Associate will be based out of the lower Manhattan office but frequently will be assigned to perform research- and compliance-related duties at Rikers Island and in other DOC facilities.

The Research & Compliance Associate will report to the Board’s Director of Research.

Responsibilities include:

• supporting the Board’s research agenda and research and compliance team

• working collaboratively with BOC’s monitoring staff, who work in the jails, on a range of research and evaluation projects

• researching national trends and best practices in corrections

• assisting in the production of public reports

• assisting with other tasks or assignments, including:

• developing audit, data collection, inspection, and survey instruments

• conducting interviews and focus groups

• performing data management, including data entry, data cleaning, and data analysis

• creating data dashboards and other data visualization tools

TO APPLY:

For City employees: Go to Employee Self-Service (ESS) at www.nyc.gov/ess and search for Job ID# 635465

For all other applicants: Go to https://cityjobs.nyc.gov/ and search for Job ID# 635465

Please submit the following: (1) resume, (2) cover letter, and (3) writing sample. Please submit the cover letter and writing sample as one document. Applications will not be considered unless we receive all three items. Submission of an application does not guarantee an interview. Only candidates under consideration will be contacted. Candidates who subsequently are interviewed will be asked for references and to complete a research/coding exercise.

The Board of Correction is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and culturally responsive workforce. We strongly encourage people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and gender non-conforming persons to apply. All applicants will be considered without regard to actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, age, prior record of arrest, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Appointments are subject to Office of Management and Budget approval.

The New York City Administrative Code requires an employee in this title to establish city residence within 90 days of entering City service and to remain in compliance with the city residency requirement as a condition of employment.

As a current or prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. You may check the eligibility for programs and how to apply at nyc.gov/studentloans.

The City of New York and the Board of Correction is an equal opportunity employer and committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally-protected status or protected characteristic, including, but not limited to, an individual’s sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.

Qualifications

1. For Assignment Level I (only physical, biological and environmental sciences and public health) A master's degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.

To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:

1. A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or

2. A master's degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or

3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in "2" above. Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in "1" and "2" above.

NOTE:

Probationary Period

Appointments to this position are subject to a minimum probationary period of one year.

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.