Democrats raise heat over NJ women s prison but avoid bashing Murphy njherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from njherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Latest bid to complete pot legalization drops fines for minors
TRENTON A cleanup bill meant to address concerns voiced by Gov. Phil Murphy that have held up enactment of legislation legalizing and decriminalizing marijuana is due for votes Tuesday and Thursday – though for now it, too, is still being cleaned up.
Two-thirds of voters in November approved a constitutional amendment legalizing adult-use marijuana, effective Jan. 1, but the accompanying enabling legislation that is required still hasn’t been enacted, though it was passed in December. Murphy wants specific provisions addressing marijuana use by minors.
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The latest version of that plan, S3454, was introduced last week. It would impose $50 civil penalties on people ages 18 to 20 for possession or consumption of marijuana and a tiered system for people under age 18 that includes a written warning, a referral to treatment programs or services and, ultimately, $50 fines.
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Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (NJ Spotlight)
New Jersey needs a new public advocate to help protect inmates and people in other state-run facilities, three lawmakers said, arguing more oversight is needed after last month’s assault on inmates at the women’s prison and the apparent failure of the state to reach a settlement with federal authorities over problems at the facility.
The state had a public advocate , but the office fell victim to politics and was last active more than a decade ago. The three top Democratic state senators, all critical of the leadership of New Jersey’s prisons, plan to create a new advocate. The position would be more limited in its scope of authority but also independent of the whims of governors who may not like the work the office undertakes.
N.J. needs a public advocate in light of attack at women’s prison, deaths at veterans homes, lawmakers say
Updated Feb 13, 2021;
A trio of Democratic state senators announced Thursday that they will introduce legislation to create an independent public advocate office that would have investigative and legal powers to help protect vulnerable populations of New Jersey residents.
The mission of the office would be to “protect the safety and rights of vulnerable populations in state and county correctional facilities, veterans homes, psychiatric hospitals, developmental centers, community-based programs and under state guardianship,” Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, and Sens. Linda Greenstein, D-Middlesex, and Nellie Pou, D-Passaic said in the announcement.
NJ senators want prisons chief gone amid abuse scandal
There are growing calls for Gov. Phil Murphy to fire the Department of Corrections commissioner amid a probe of accusations of abuse by corrections staff against inmates at the state s women’s prison.
All 25 Senate Democrats have called for Marcus Hicks to immediately resign as DOC commissioner following the suspension of 30 employees at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women along with a new internal investigation stemming from a Jan. 11 incident. Republicans also have called for his removal.
“He has demonstrated time and again that he is not up to the task of running the Department of Corrections, a department that holds the responsibility for the custody and care of approximately 20,000 state-sentenced offenders housed across 12 state correctional facilities, county jails and community halfway houses,” the lawmakers said in a Jan. 28 letter to the governor.