Inmate at troubled N.J. women’s prison injured again after accusing officers of brutal attack
Updated Feb 24, 2021;
An inmate in New Jersey’s only women’s prison was hospitalized with a concussion Thursday after an altercation with officers, according to officials and medical records, just a month after she reported being one of several women beaten by staff.
Rae Rollins, who is 25 and transgender, told her attorney that officers at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County pushed her into a wall and maced her last week.
The state’s largest corrections union said Rollins was the aggressor. Four officers and a supervisor were attacked and had to be treated for “minor injuries,” according to William Sullivan, president of NJ PBA Local 105.
NJ Senate passes measure seeking to oust state prisons chief lmtonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lmtonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
New Jersey is now offering voluntary COVID-19 vaccinations to corrections officers and inmates in all state prisons, but questions remain about whether there will be enough participation to keep workers and prisoners safe as the virus continues to spread.
The state s vaccination effort already plagued by a confusing public rollout and not enough supply takes on an added sense of urgency inside prisons, where tight spaces and a high frequency of chronic medical conditions make staff and inmates more vulnerable to the virus.
When COVID crept into Garden State prisons in the first wave of the virus s surge last spring, the state tallied a higher death rate than any other state.
N.J.’s prison leader still has a job. Many lawmakers can’t figure out why.
Updated Feb 11, 2021;
Posted Feb 09, 2021
New Jersey Corrections Commissioner Marcus Hicks in a Jan. 8, 2020, photo at the Family Guidance Center of Warren County in Washington Township.Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com
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Early September, the head of New Jersey’s prison system told state lawmakers that the federal government had just given him a list of suggested reforms for the state’s only women’s prison.
Since then, 152 days have passed. Six female inmates said they were severely beaten by staff. Three officers face criminal charges.