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New Jersey Officers Charged After Prison Inmates Allege Assault, Severe Beatings
On 2/4/21 at 4:04 PM EST
Three prison guards were charged Thursday with official misconduct in connection with abuse at a New Jersey women s prison, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced. Shortly before midnight on January 11, more than 2 dozen officers at Edna Mahan women s prison forcibly removed inmates from their cells, Grewal said in a tweet. As alleged in today s charges, the inmates were beaten and pepper-sprayed, in violation of state law and prison policy.
Luis Garcia, one of the officers involved in the cell extractions, was charged with striking a victim approximately 28 times without justification. Sergeants Amir Bethea and Anthony Valvano, two supervisors involved in the incident who oversaw the officers, were charged with official misconduct and tampering with public records.
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The Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. (NJ Spotlight)
New Jersey prosecutors have filed charges against three correctional police officers for beating female prisoners the night of Jan. 11 at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women.
Officials said the late-night attacks at the prison in Hunterdon County left the victims with scratches, concussions, and at least one orbital fracture.
According to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, corrections officers had organized into “extraction teams” to remove prisoners from their cells.
Per state policy, prisoners are supposed to be given the chance to leave their cells freely, and if they don’t, corrections officers are only permitted to use as much force as is necessary to remove them. That was not what happened, Grewal said during a Thursday afternoon virtual press conference to announce the charges.
Mike Catalini
FILE - This photo from Monday June 21, 2004, shows inmate Mary Tobin walking a puppy down a cell block hallway at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J. Three prison guards are charged with misconduct stemming from a violent attack on at least six female inmates at the prison, including one who was punched 28 times and pepper-sprayed, New Jerseyâs attorney general said Thursday. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer, File) February 04, 2021 - 2:06 PM
TRENTON, N.J. - A female inmate was punched 28 times and pepper-sprayed when guards attacked her and at least five other women, New Jersey officials said Thursday, bringing misconduct charges against three male prison guards.
The Clinton facility New Jersey s lone women s prison has a “long, ugly history, Grewal said.
“That’s why we must do more than simply figure out what went wrong on Jan. 11. We must hold the responsible parties accountable, and we must fix the systemic failures that made this incident possible, he said.
Late on Jan. 11 and into the early hours of Jan. 12, about two dozen guards entered part of the prison and began to remove inmates, according to Grewal. A motive wasn t given, but Grewal said more information would be coming out.
One woman, Ajila Nelson, told NJ.com she believed the attack was in retaliation for complaints inmates had made.