NYC DOC Appoints First Deputy Commissioner
New York City Department of Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards has appointed Margaret “Meg” Egan as the agency’s First Deputy Commissioner.
Egan has spent her career leading strategic, systems-level change, focusing on community-based public safety initiatives and criminal legal system reform centered on decarceration and improving conditions in jails and prisons. In her new role, she will oversee and support the Commissioner’s executive team and lead the Department’s transition to smaller, safer jail system centered on the borough-based jail program.
“‘Meg’ has devoted the majority of her extensive career to community-based public safety initiatives and criminal justice reform centered on reducing our reliance on and improving conditions in jails and prisons,” said Commissioner Richards. “Her dedication to the health and safety of people impacted by carceral systems will be vital to her role as the First Deputy Commissioner of this Department.”
“I am deeply honored that Commissioner Richards has appointed me to this role and charged me with this critical work,” said Egan. “The work of reforming the City’s jails will not happen overnight, but I am committed to doing the work necessary to ensure that our jails are safe and all in our care, both people in custody and staff, are not just supported but have meaningful opportunities to thrive.”
Before joining the NYC DOC, Egan most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Prison Association. She was also Chief Operating Officer of the mental health nonprofit Fountain House, as well as Executive Director of the New York City Board of Correction, the oversight body for the City’s jail system.
Additionally, Egan has held senior roles at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG) and served as Assistant Secretary for Public Safety to the Governor of New York. She also led criminal justice reform and violence reduction strategies for the Cook County Board President and jail conditions reform strategies for the Cook County Sheriff in Chicago.
Egan earned a JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, an MA in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University, an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a BA from the University of Wisconsin.