These deficiencies remained when the county depopulated the jail of people that the county was profiting from through the contract with ICE. The recent near fatal beating of Jayshawn Boyd as well as the stabbing death of Dan Gelin were tragically avoidable, but they are also evidence that the ICE contract was not the problem. The problem is that the county views the people in the jail as less than human. Read More

There are plenty of those women held in Edna Mahan that deserve to be freed and not transferred to another facility. Most incarcerated women are there for drug related crimes and non-violent crimes. More than 50% of incarcerated women are single moms and primary caregivers. Read More

The only logical adjective that fits with extraction is “forcible extraction.” Do prisoners really need to be “forcibly extracted” or “pulled from their cells” in order to perform cell checks and other routine corrections activities? Read More

Reports of abuse, violence and neglect, not only in correctional facilities but in detention centers throughout New Jersey and the US are widespread. In this most recent case “34 staff members and 10 corrections officers“ were charged in the violent beating of women inmates, clearly not a case of “one bad apple” but a thorough and systematically abusive system which dehumanizes people who are convicted of crimes, no matter how large or small. Read More

In general, incarcerated women were girls who suffered trauma or were institutionalized before being sent to prison. We failed them before. Let's not fail them again. Read More

NJ Department of Correction is releasing early 2,200 people from its prisons to reduce the overcrowding and minimize the risk of contracting COVID. This is excellent news since NJ has the nation’s worst prison death rate from COVID. Read More

Also, as Angela Davis says: Prisons don’t disappear social problems they disappear human beings.” We need to stop feeding the system. Police departments and police officers have a huge responsibility, they are the “gatekeepers”. Police departments can be part of the solution on the reduction of prison population. Read More

After the pandemic, we must refuse to go back. We must commit to helping communities, supporting and funding them sooner rather than over-incarcerating residents later. We need to build community not tear it apart and incarcerate the pieces. Read More

According to ACLU NJ, New Jersey has the highest rate of prison deaths in the country, more than NY, CT, PA and MA combined. 544 prisoners, 600 correctional officers tested positive and 42 prisoners died. Read More

It's now too late to prevent widespread infection and death in our county jails. But these are our prisoners, your prisoners, my prisoners. We must hold our officials accountable. Read More

"For everyone held captive by ICE, the threat of an outbreak of COVID-19 has been terrifying." Read More

With Coronavirus threatening to devastate vulnerable populations in prisons and jails (where ICE detainees are held in Newark, despite being under technically civil detention), it is a moral imperative that Joe D and the freeholders overcome their lucrative complicity in immigrant detention and publicly demand that ICE release its detainees before catastrophe strikes. Read More

Citizens must push hard for good representatives to be added to the Task Force so that it can work as intended: ensuring fair and equitable conditions for all prisoners, detainees, and staff. Read More