Ronald Brereton, the head of security for the city’s jails , was let go Tuesday morning and walked out of the Correction Department’s headquarters in Queens, sources told the Daily News.
Brereton was appointed deputy commissioner of security operations in May 2022 despite a controversial track record during a long career with the state prison system, as previously reported in The News .
At the city Correction Department, he was in charge of a broad array of key divisions, including central operations, security intelligence, the correction industries division, fire safety and the compliance office, a bio states.
The reason behind his departure from his city role was not entirely clear. He had been under fire of late from the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association following the slashing of an officer by a detainee.
Fights between detainees have been rising since February 2023, when 280 were recorded, compared with 649 this September, city comptroller records show.
The number of stabbings and slashing had been falling until the past three months, when they rose from 15 in July to 30 in September, the records show.