Demanding Improved Conditions for NJ’s Incarcerated Men, Women, Youth: Committee Needed

One of the proposed demands of the September 9^th. NJ Actions in Solidarity with the Multi-State Work Stoppage by Enslaved Incarcerated Men and Women is for improved conditions for NJ’s incarcerated.

See: http://decarceratenj.blogspot.com/2016/05/sept-9-solidarity-w-incarcerated.html

That demand is admittedly vague and Decarcerate the Garden State wants to work with you and with the incarcerated men, women and youth, as well as their families to make it more specific.

We need the help of families and loved ones of those incarcerated in NJ in identifying the most important issues of concern to those on the inside.

Firstly, if you know of a concerns based upon current and past communications with incarcerated, please send us the issues you believe are important to Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org .

We also are interested in links to articles about prison conditions and especially in custody deaths and violence in NJ facilities (be they local, county, state or federal).  If you have any links, please provide them.

We need to first document the conditions – like medical neglect, safety issues, violence, brutality, food issues, lack of access to education, training and other services to prepare for release, etc.  We need to find out which of the concerns are the largest priority.  Then we need to articulate the concerns of the incarcerated – to better define our demand of Improved conditions for NJ’s incarcerated. 

Some Links with Specifics

Medical Neglect, Hudson County Jails
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2016/05/hudson_county_freeholders_postpone_vote_on_new_med.html
Plainfield Man Death in Middlesex County Custody

http://decarceratenj.blogspot.com/2015/03/another-man-done-gone-plainfield-man.html

Deplorable Solitary at Middlesex County Jail
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2015/11/solitary_confinement_in_middlesex_county_cruel_and.html

http://www.trentonian.com/general-news/20160524/trenton-attorney-activists-call-on-new-jersey-ag-to-investigate-mercer-county-inmates-death

Rash of deaths in Cumberland County Jail
http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2016/06/bridgeton_man_commits_suicide_in_county_jail_warde.html

Anyone with more links about conditions of NJ’s facilities, please send to Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org .

Essex County Sexual Abuse
https://www.rlsmedia.com/article/newark-corrections-officer-gets-25-years-sexual-abuse-detainee

Anyone who has people on the inside in NJ - if it can be worked into the conversation next time you write to them, talk on the phone or visit - please tell them about Decarcerate the Garden State . . . and about the plans to have September 9 activities in NJ demanding  decarcerating measures - like 50 % reduction in NJ's prisoners - and improved conditions inside NJ prisons.  If some of the incarcerated help spread word inside the facilities about September 9 and about our need for information about what are the conditions in NJ that need improvement and urge prisoners to send us information that will help us to develop a specific set of concerns that we can voice on September 9 (before and after that date as well).

We are also reviewing the rules for sending newspapers into the facilites - if you would like to request a subscription to The NJ Decarcerator for one or more incarcerated man, women or youth - please send the name, ID# and facility to Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org .

We need to be creative – and there is a significant effort to get it right about what “improved conditions for the incarcerated” in NJ’s facilities means.  A general vague demand is less powerful than specific demands so this is an important task for our September 9 work.  Ideally we would have a committee to to work around this issue with a task plan for:

·          gathering information from available media sources, possibly scholarly writings, legal briefs and even college research papers that might have been done recently.

·         Reaching out to the families of incarcerated and the incarcerated to pin down the major concerns and the relative importance of each concern.

·         Maybe we can interest some reporters into doing some further investigative work and obtain information from their resulting reports.

Anyone interested in helping out – please provide the links and information and notify us via e-mail Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org or phone 908-881-5285.

Academics / Religious Leaders / Advocates / Lawyers

 If you have any information on NJ to contribute to this information gathering effort - please share. Those in academia - you might know about research either by professors, grad students or under grads that might have explored this information.

Those in advocacy you might know families, etc that would have information to share - that would help as well.

Ministers, you might have people in your congregations that might be willing to help by providing some of this information. We know that there are general trends in the abusive conditions but if we can make it more specific and with help in prioritizing which are the most important concerns - that is all the better

Attorneys, maybe you know of cases and can provide referencing that can point us in the right direction.
Any suggestions are appreciated.

Addendum:

This report from Alabama is the kind of information we need to put together for NJ:

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/may/5/alabama-forced-confront-criminal-justice-reform/