Weinberg, Greenstein, Pou: Inexcusable Failure to Reach Consent Agreement With Justice Department Allowed Assaults, Abuses at Edna Mahan to Continue

If federal monitors had been on-site at Edna Mahan, January 11 assaults and cover-up might have been prevented, senators say

TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Senators Linda Greenstein and Nellie Pou today demanded to know why the Corrections Department failed to reach a consent agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that would most likely have put federal monitors into the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, potentially averting the brutal January 11 assaults.

“The assaults on women inmates on January 11 came nine months after the Justice Department found that abuses by Corrections officers violated the civil rights of inmates, and five months after Corrections Commissioner Marcus Hicks said the Administration was reviewing a proposed agreement by the Justice Department that he said would most likely have put federal monitors into Edna Mahan,” said Senator Weinberg (D-Bergen).

“If federal monitors were assigned to Edna Mahan, the 32 Corrections officers who are now suspended would have had to think hard before deciding to don riot gear, brutally assault women inmates or brazenly try to cover it up,” she said.

Senator Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer), who questioned Hicks during a Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing on September 10 about the tentative agreement with the Justice Department, said the latest development shows that the 25 Democratic senators who unanimously signed a letter calling for Hicks’ removal from office were right to do so.

“Commissioner Hicks led us to believe that the Justice Department’s proposed settlement with ‘very specific recommendations’ was being reviewed by counsel and that an agreement was imminent,” Senator Greenstein said. “I had to question him during the Senate Budget hearing because he refused to show up to answer questions at the hearing I held as Senate Law and Public Safety Committee chair to investigate the abuses at Edna Mahan.

“Six months later, the fact that there is still no agreement makes it clear that protecting vulnerable women locked in prison from physical and sexual abuse is not a priority for this Administration,” she said. “It is for us in the Senate.”

Senator Pou (D-Passaic), who has sponsored several criminal justice reform laws to protect the rights of both adults and juveniles in the corrections system, said the Corrections Department should immediately release the recommendations proposed by the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division for review by the Legislature and the public.

“The Legislature and the people have a right to know what the Justice Department recommended and why women inmates at Edna Mahan have been allowed to continue to fear for their physical safety for months while this Corrections Department finds excuses not to implement reforms that could protect them,” said Senator Pou. “The cover-up has gone on long enough at all levels.

“We repeat our request to release the Justice Department recommendations and all correspondence between the Administration and the Justice Department related to the proposed settlement,” she said

NJ Spotlight’s article about Hicks’ testimony before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee about the proposed Edna Mahan settlement can be found here.