Inmates at N.J. Women’s Prison Endured Years of Sex Abuse, Justice Dept. Finds

The assaults violated prisoners’ constitutional protections, investigators said, demanding that the prison immediately address the problems.

By Katie Benner
April 13, 2020, 6:52 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Inmates at New Jersey’s only state prison for women were regularly sexually assaulted by guards and sometimes forced to engage in sex acts with other prisoners while staff members looked on, according to a Justice Department report released on Monday detailing widespread, pervasive sexual abuse at the facility.

In one instance at the prison, the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J., one woman was forced to act as a lookout for the guard assaulting her, the report said.

Assault and coercion were so prevalent that the Justice Department concluded that the New Jersey Department of Corrections and the prison had violated the inmates’ constitutional protections from cruel and unusual punishment.

“Sexual abuse should not be a part of any prisoner’s punishment,” Eric S. Dreiband, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement accompanying the report, the result of an investigation by the division and the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey. “Women prisoners at Edna Mahan are at substantial risk of sexual abuse by staff because systemic deficiencies discourage prisoners from reporting sexual abuse and allow sexual abuse to occur undetected and undeterred.”

Officials at the New Jersey Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department also said it could sue the department in 49 days if officials did not address the problems laid out in the report.

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DOJ: NJ women's prison failed to address sex abuse

69 News Apr 13, 2020 Updated 1 hr ago

HUNTERDON COUNTY, N.J. - A Department of Justice report alleges that officials at New Jersey's only state women's prison in Hunterdon County failed to take action to prevent rampant sexual abuse against inmates.

The report says the state corrections department and officials at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women failed to protect inmates despite being aware of systemic problems.

Several corrections officers at the prison have been convicted of sexual abuse and misconduct in recent years.

The report called the sexual abuse "severe and prevalent," and said a "culture of acceptance" persisted for many years.

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