Credit: (NJ Spotlight News)
Edna Mahan Correctional Facility
Threats from a possible federal takeover of New Jersey’s only women’s prison and inmate lawsuits are driving New Jersey’s efforts at reforming a culture that has allowed sexual assaults and harassment to continue unchecked for decades.
The coming reforms include body cameras for corrections officers, a system for monitoring officers’ behavior and an overhaul of policies, staffing and training as recommended by a consultant. But how effective they will be remains to be seen. Past efforts that included a zero-tolerance policy for sexual contact and officers’ training did not stop sexual assaults, which are just one glaring problem at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women.
Oliver Barry, an attorney for a woman imprisoned at Edna Mahan, said Friday neither his client nor he have spoken to anyone from the group, but he would welcome the chance to offer recommendations on improving conditions at the prison.
Lydia Cotz, an attorney in a federal civil rights lawsuit representing a former inmate at Edna Mahan, said the prison failed for years to provide adequate care for her client and that if a consultant was needed to make systemic changes there, then “so be it,” but she added that a federal monitor should also be put in place, along with a consent order.
NJ paying $1.3M to consultant to advise on women s prison
MIKE CATALINI, Associated Press
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) New Jersey taxpayers are on the hook for about $1.3 million dollars in fees to a criminal justice consultant to help the Department of Corrections amid a criminal investigation into what the attorney general said was a “brutal attack” on inmates at the state s only women s prison, according to public documents.
The department announced in February that it had hired the Moss Group as a consultant to provide technical support, policy development and other advice at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. The cost of the agreement wasn t announced at that time, but legislative budget documents show the cost of the two-year deal will tally about $1.3 million.
For Jasmine Klein, life in Vermont's prisons has been a punishment beyond her sentence. Last November, Klein, a transgender woman, was transferred to Chittenden Regional.
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