Federal oversight of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women began in August 2021 after years of complaints that officials there turned a blind eye to sexual assaults of inmates. (Courtesy of the Department of Corrections)
State and federal officials want a judge to terminate some federal oversight of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women , more than three years after federal justice officials said the state failed to protect incarcerated people from sexual abuse by staff.
The officials, citing the Department of Corrections’ “substantial compliance” with the federal monitor, are asking the judge to release the state from six requirements of an agreement known as a consent decree, which requires the state to increase supervision at the prison, make it easier for prisoners to report abuse, improve transparency, and more. The request was filed Aug. 26 .
Bonnie Kerness, with American Friends Service Committee’s prison watch program, told the New Jersey Monitor there have been improvements in the prison’s atmosphere and better communication between prison officials and the prison’s board of trustees, which she serves on.
Kerness stressed that lifting these six portions wouldn’t let Edna Mahan officials backslide, because oversight would still continue.
“The whole ambiance of the place has changed, and this is according to the women,” Kerness said. “Not that there aren’t issues … but in terms of what the Department of Justice is saying should change, that has been largely corrected.”
The state’s only women’s prison has long faced scrutiny over systemic failures that officials said put incarcerated women at serious risk of sexual abuse. Federal officials launched an investigation into the prison in 2018 and released a scathing report two years later confirming Enda Mahan officials were aware of the rampant sexual abuse at the Hunterdon County facility.
In January 2021, a series of violent cell extractions led to the suspension of 30 officers and criminal charges against more than a dozen.
The state entered into the consent decree with the federal government in August 2021.
Dan Sperrazza, spokesman for the corrections department, said the new filing “underscores the commitment to providing a safe and dignified environment for all incarcerated persons.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
The six sections of the consent decree the filing asks a judge to lift pertain to supervision of prison staff, education of prisoners on reporting sexual harassment and abuse, internal and external reporting of abuse and harassment, and more. They represent half of the areas federal officials have been overseeing since the consent decree was approved three years ago.
The federal monitor, Jane Parnell, has issued five reports during her oversight of the prison. In her latest report from May 16 , she said the state and Edna Mahan continue to make “steady progress” in areas both required and not required by the consent decree.
Consent decrees have historically been used by the federal government to force reforms when government entities are found to have violated federal law.
It’s not clear how long it will be before the consent decree is entirely lifted. The New Jersey State Police was under federal oversight for 10 years after troopers on the Turnpike shot at a van of unarmed Black men in 1998, wounding three of them. The Newark Police Department has been under a consent decree since 2016 that was required to last five years. In June, parts of it were lifted, CBS News reported.
Kerness agreed that some guardrails should remain in place due to concerns about issues in prisons statewide, like drug use and low recruitment and retention for staff.
“There has been a considerable amount of progress, and the board sees it, but there’s still enough of a concern that they want to maintain access to the facilities,” she said.
The parties are scheduled to appear Nov. 19 before U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi to terminate certain sections of the consent decree.
Gov. Phil Murphy ordered the prison to close in 2021. The first phase of that process ended in November 2023.
Most of the women incarcerated at Edna Mahan currently live in a facility about five miles away. The federal monitor’s May report said only a high-security unit and mixed-use space remain used on the original grounds.
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