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Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered his corrections commissioner to abandon newly ordered 24-hour work shifts at city jails Friday, calling the move meant to combat coronavirus-driven staffing shortages a “horrible mistake.”

Hizzoner’s remarks came a day after the unions for city jailers filed a lawsuit in Queen Supreme Court challenging the legality of the extended shifts and complaining about unsafe working conditions, describing the Big Apple’s lockups as a “cesspool of illness.”

“There never should have been 24-hour shifts,” de Blasio admitted during a conference call with reporters. “It really was just a horrible mistake. Our officers, our supervisors are going through so much.”

De Blasio said the decision “was just a dumb managerial mistake.”

“A 24-hour shift just doesn’t make sense,” the mayor said. “My strong impression is there were other options here and that’s what I want to see happen.”

The tort filed by all three of the city’s corrections unions claimed that jail workers are being forced to work 24 hours straight, amounting to “an abusive level of mandatory overtime including requiring them to three consecutive tours of duty in excess of eight hours each.”

“It is simple logic to conclude that triple tours of duty increase sleep deprivation,” it adds.