FOXY BROWN'S PHOTO SHOOT FROM RIKERS ISLAND CAUSED 3 C.O.'S TO RESIGN!

Three key officials at the Department of Correction resigned Friday, just months after several prisoners held religious parties and a jailed female rapper posed for a magazine photo shoot.
Chief of Department Carolyn Thomas and Frank Squillante, assistant chief of special operations, both turned in their resignations effective Oct. 31, sources said.

George Okada's resignation as warden of the Manhattan detention complex is effective the middle of next month, sources said.

"I'm sincerely happy to see [Thomas] go," said Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of the Correction Captains' Association. "I don't believe she did a good job. We need a strong leader."

The union leader also expressed enthusiasm for Okada's departure.

"He allowed his deputy wardens to run his jails," Ferraiuolo said.

In July, a lower Manhattan lockup known as the Tombs became embroiled in controversy when a deputy warden allowed a group of Orthodox Jewish convicts to have bar mitzvahs and other religious parties behind bars.

"He should have used his authority to run his jails," Ferraiuolo said of Okada. "He should have been a stronger leader."

Okada, a 21-year veteran of the department, will be replaced by Kathleen Mulvey, currently the warden of the criminal justice division.

A month earlier, rapper Foxy Brown, who was serving nine months on Rikers Island for beating two nail salon manicurists in 2006, did a jailhouse interview with a hip-hop magazine.

Correction officers allowed Brown to do the interview and pose for the photo shoot to promote her new album.

The resignations signaled a long-overdue change in the department, Ferraiuolo said.

"We've needed it for a long time," he said. "Morale has been very low."