Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has appointed former rapper Mysonne Linen, who served seven years in state prison for armed robbery, to his transition team's criminal justice system committee.
Linen, 49, was convicted in 1999 of two taxi robberies in the Bronx in the late 1990s and later reinvented himself as an activist. Mamdani committee list lists him (misspelled as “Misun”) among the appointees. (RELATED: 'Natural Enemy': Mamdani Appoints Professor Who Hates Radical Cops to 'Public Safety' Post)
Linen, whose debut album was scheduled for release on Def Jam before his conviction, has dedicated recent years to advocating for criminal justice and gun violence prevention. He celebrated the appointment on Instagram last month, writing: “We're building something different.”
Mamdani transition section 17 committees are shown, including a “Criminal Legal System Committee” that is set to make both personnel and policy recommendations as he prepares to take office next month.
Mamdani's criminal plan is centered on creating $1.1 billion.Department of Public Safety“transfer non-violent and mental health calls from police to civilian teams while keeping NYPD staffing levels roughly the same.
He also promised to stop the NYPD's encampment sweeps and replace them with outreach efforts that will help homeless New Yorkers get housing, arguing that the current approach is “pushing[es] New Yorkers who live in the cold are moving somewhere else where they will live in the cold.” according to for CBS News.
On the prison front, Mamdani says he will reduce the population so the city can close Rikers and end the borough jail situation – a plan he says the outgoing administration made “functionally impossible” in the 2027 timeline, Spectrum News NY1 reported. He previously called City jail guards “truly and completely end solitary confinement” by signing a 2021 letter following an unannounced Rikers visit.
