The organizations are asking for an “accelerated closure” of the Female Secure Intake Facility, New Jersey Training School for Boys, and Juvenile Medium Security Facility. (Illustration by Alex Cochran for New Jersey Monitor)
Social justice groups want Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin to expedite the closure of long-troubled juvenile jails and open an investigation into the Juvenile Justice Commission in light of both recent and decades-old accusations of sexual abuse by staff.
In a letter sent to Murphy and Platkin Thursday, they say the pattern of abuse of young people in the state’s youth facilities is similar to the widespread abuses uncovered at the Edna Mahan women’s prison, which led the governor to order the facility to close. And while Platkin has said he’d close two of the state’s three juvenile facilities by 2028, activists want to see that time cut in half.
“We can’t continue to talk about a date that’s four years from now and continue to subject girls or children in general to these types of conditions, this type of abuse,” said Ashanti Jones of the New Jersey Institute of Social Justice.
Three dozen social justice and advocacy organizations signed the two-page letter. They stressed their concerns surrounding charges against two correctional officers accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old resident of the Female Secure Care and Intake Facility in Bordentown. The facility has just five residents, so the state’s failure to keep them safe is “alarming,” the letter says.
“This incident highlights that New Jersey’s incarcerated youth deserve the kind of protection that comes from a community-based, developmentally appropriate system of care that is grounded in restorative justice. They deserve an environment that prioritizes their growth, healing and well-being, which, as the recent charges reflect, is not available in the current system,” the letter reads.
The organizations are asking for an “accelerated closure” of the Female Secure Intake Facility, New Jersey Training School for Boys in Jamesburg, and Juvenile Medium Security Facility in Bordentown. Currently, the Female Secure Intake Facility and Training School for Boys are slated to close.
The letter also notes that 50 men filed suit in January alleging that between the 1970s and 2010s, while they were boys kept in the Jamesburg facility, they were sexually abused by officers, counselors, and other staffers. It calls for an investigation into the Juvenile Justice Commission, which oversees the state’s juvenile lockups.
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Jones said the governor’s office acknowledged receipt of their letter.
Tara Oliver, a Platkin spokeswoman, said New Jersey is committed to closing the Female Secure Care and Intake Facility “as soon as practicable.”
“It is part of larger reform efforts undertaken by the Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) that have resulted (in) significant reductions to the female population, as well as the overall population of incarcerated youth. We continue to pursue these prevention strategies and alternatives to incarceration that reduce the need for incarceration of youth in the first place, and continue to improve the youth justice system overall,” Oliver said.
Jones said there needs to be a prompt look into how allegations of abuse keep happening, whether that’s by tightening hiring policies or strengthening background checks. And it’s important to make these findings public, she said.
“There has to be accountability here. We need an independent investigator to come in and actually figure out exactly where we may be compromised within the JJC from the top down,” she said.
