A Look Inside the New York City Correction Budget
Overview
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, nationwide calls for reallocation of law enforcement budgets forced elected leaders to consider the values underlying their budgetary choices. But discussions largely remained limited to policing. Few major U.S. cities took a hard look at the billions invested in their increasingly vacant jails. New York City spends far more than any other city to incarcerate its citizens, despite tremendous strides to safely shrink its jail population. Every dollar spent on incarceration leaves less for community-based services like supportive housing, jobs training, mental healthcare, substance use treatment, alternatives to incarceration, and reentry services. Vera’s annual budget analysis shows the tradeoffs New York City makes when it overinvests in incarceration to the detriment of broader community safety.
Key Takeaway
The FY2026 budget continues to overinvest in the Department of Correction and New York Police Department while making cuts to community-based services proven to support neighborhood safety.
Publication Highlights
In FY2026, funding is set to increase for police and corrections, while budgets are decreasing for health and mental hygiene, housing preservation and development, homeless services, and youth and community development.
As of January 1, 2025, DOC and NYPD had already overspent their annual uniformed overtime budgets, which are meant to last through the end of June.
DOC’s personnel costs are budgeted for 7,060 officers through the end of FY 2029 despite a 16 percent vacancy rate and the looming deadline to close Rikers and transition to four smaller borough-based jails.