Overview
- Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani confirmed that Mysonne Linen, a rapper-turned-advocate, will serve on the Committee on the Criminal Legal System within his 17-committee transition.
- Linen was convicted in 1999 of two armed robberies of taxi drivers and served seven years in state prison before becoming a community organizer, violence interrupter, Rikers volunteer, and a co-founder of Until Freedom.
- The appointment, first highlighted in a late November Instagram post by Until Freedom, has drawn criticism from police unions, former NYPD officials, and a victim’s widow who called the decision wrong.
- Mamdani said the transition includes more than 400 New Yorkers whose successes and failures will inform policy and personnel recommendations as his administration forms.
- The debate unfolds as Mamdani advances a public-safety agenda that includes a proposed $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety and efforts to reduce the jail population ahead of his Jan. 1 swearing-in.