>To reduce the lifetime cost of this person on society (financially and otherwise) we should be incentivising prisons to actually rehabilitate

As an American, I think that rehabilitation should be the goal. But for the most part, it isn't. But not just to "cut costs."

There's the human cost of lost potential, which is worth much more than money. But the current system also penalizes families and communities and society at-large by limiting the opportunities for those who have been convicted of a crime.

The issues with incarceration in the US go much deeper than that. You mention homelessness/joblessness. That's a very real issue, that's a result of stigmatizing (often for life) people convicted of a crime. But that's not a result of the system of incarceration, rather it's a result of government and societal devaluing of human life. And more's the pity.

As to this specific situation, I'd note that there are no prisons in New York City.

Rather, they are jails[0]:

Jail and prison are often used interchangeably as places of confinement. If
you want to be specific jail can be used to describe a place for those
awaiting trial or held for minor crimes, whereas prison describes a place for
criminals convicted of serious crimes.

Which means that the majority of folks in the institutions discussed in the post are either being held before trial (which means they haven't been found guilty of a crime) or those found guilty of minor offenses (mostly misdemeanors).

As such, this move is even more egregious, as many (most?) of these folks haven't even been convicted of a crime.

Yes, the US systems (note the plural, there are at least 51) of incarceration tend (sometimes pretty hard) towards retribution and exploitation, But they are not monolithic. They're mostly bad, but some are worse than others.

NYC had been moving in a more positive direction, with bail reform and plans to shut down the notorious Riker's Island[2] in favor of multiple, smaller jails across NYC.

However, just last week, after body/security cam footage of a mentally ill Riker's Island inmate (not convicted of a crime, but awaiting trial) being violently transferred to a "mental health" unit of the jail, the Corrections Department (DOC) [3] restricted access for the Board of Corrections (BOC) [4] (the oversight agency for the Corrections department) to such videos.

This was pretty obviously retribution for the release of the video to the media.

And now they want to further punish/exploit those who are incarcerated (again, many/most of whom haven't been convicted of a crime) with this.

It's pretty awful, but, at least in this case, please don't paint these folks with the broad brush of "criminal" as many have not been adjudged to be guilty of any crime, or are serving a short sentence for minor crimes (shoplifting, public urination, etc.).

I am not pleased with how the DOC is backsliding and will hold my elected representatives accountable in 2025 (City Council, Mayor, etc.) for these punitive and egregious abuses.

Understand that I'm not making light of your point WRT inhumane conditions and retribution/abuse/exploitation in the various US systems of incarceration. You're quite correct. I expounded because this is even more egregious than usual given the population involved.

I'd also say that our current systems don't just harm those who are incarcerated, but also the communities they come from and the economy, as those with criminal convictions are limited by the stigma of criminal convictions in the economic activity they can generate.

It's a lose-lose proposition and it requires fixing. Sadly, I won't hold my breath. :(

[0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/jail-vs-prison...

[1] https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/public-safety/2023/01/1...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikers_Island

[3] https://www.nyc.gov/site/doc/index.page

[4] https://www.nyc.gov/site/boc/index.page