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“While this will not happen overnight, I intend to work with legislative leaders during the current budget cycle to allocate funds to begin this multi-year process,” he said in a statement. prepared, urging the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC) to bring in reforms on body cameras and training, among other policies.
The inmates will be moved to a new facility or to existing facilities, Murphy said.
Law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP led the investigation, led by former state comptroller and federal prosecutor Matthew Boxer.
The report describes a series of abuses that took place on the night of January 11 amid a series of extractions from inmate cells or removals of inmates from their wards, in which correctional officers allegedly physically assaulted prisoners. inmates.
The extractions allegedly took place after inmates “splashed” correctional officers with bodily fluids and other unidentified fluids, according to the report. They were conducted in a section of the facility where inmates who commit “average” disciplinary offenses are housed, DOC commissioner Marcus Hicks told investigators.
An inmate who allegedly resisted officers’ orders and retaliated wrote in later statements that during the four forced extractions, officers tucked her arm back, causing it to crack, and an officer “choked her,” he said. grabbed the chest and “put his hands in [her] vagina, “scratching it and making it bleed,” according to the report.
Officers reportedly sprayed a second inmate with pepper spray in her catering port, violating DOC policy, and pushed her against the wall. A third inmate was allegedly punched while in handcuffs and suffered a fractured orbital wall, according to the report.
Staff at the facility filed false reports after the extractions, according to the investigation’s findings.
Boxer’s report also found that prior to the events of January 11, key DOC leadership was not in place, pandemic difficulties increased tensions between inmates, the DOC ombudsman did not not been informed of the cell extraction plan and some correctional officers involved in the incident had committed a fault during previous extractions.
Following allegations of excessive force, the state attorney general’s office, Gurbir Grewal, has indicted 10 prison officers during its ongoing investigation into the incident. Parts of Boxer’s report are redacted as a result of this investigation, according to Murphy.
Justice Department investigation reveals systemic abuse
This is not the first time that the EMCF has faced credible allegations of abuse among prison staff.
Last April, the Justice Department wrote in a notice after a two-year investigation that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the conditions at the EMCF violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel punishment. and unusual, “because of” the sexual abuse of prisoners by institutional staff “and that” these violations are consistent with a pattern or practice of resisting the full enjoyment of the rights protected by the Eighth Amendment ” .
The DOJ wrote that the facility “does not protect victims who report abuse as an excuse for retaliation,” subjects those who report sexual abuse to “harsh and segregated conditions,” and that those responsible for the establishment were aware of the abuse and ignored it, among other results.
NJ Department of Corrections takes action to correct course
Following the events of January 11, the New Jersey DOC took action, including setting up an early warning system to detect trends in personnel conduct, deploying a body camera program, and hiring a criminal justice consultancy to help it take further action, the department told CNN.
“Safety and security are of paramount importance to the Department. Upon first learning about the incident on January 11 at Edna Mahan Women’s Correctional Facility, the Department took swift action to suspend 34 staff members and immediately sought help from the Attorney General’s Office. and the prosecutor’s office to investigate the conduct of possible criminal proceedings, ”DOC spokeswoman Liz Velez said in a statement to CNN.
“The NJDOC believes in transparency and in a spirit of transparency, has fully supported and cooperated with the independent report commissioned by Governor Murphy into the events of January 11. The ministry is reviewing the recommendations and is committed to working with stakeholders to implement these reforms and further protect those incarcerated in DOC facilities, ”she said.
In a briefing with reporters Monday afternoon, Murphy declined to say whether he would fire the DOC commissioner, while reiterating that he found Boxer’s report “very disturbing.”
Contacted by CNN twice, operators of the EMCF’s commercial and administrative offices hung up the phone when asked to comment.
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