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As reported by nj.com, New Jersey’s Department of Corrections is preparing for the possibility of having to relocate hundreds of state prison inmates as Hurricane Irene approaches. The department issued a statement saying emergency evacuation plans are being dusted off at all 13 state prisons.

A primary concern is the Southern State Correctional Facility in Cumberland County where some of the 2,300 prisoners are housed in modular units. Other facilities are in flood-prone areas.

Corrections spokeswoman Deidre Fedkenheuer says some low-classification inmates would be moved into brick and mortar buildings. Others would relocated to other facilities. No inmates have been moved so far.  

The Department declined to release details of the plans because of security concerns. However, about 500 inmates were relocated from Southern State ahead of a severe storm several years ago.

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As reported by nj.com, the state must pay thousands of corrections officers back pay for their participation in a pilot program that last 10 years beyond its experimental phase, a Superior Court judge ruled. If the ruling is allowed to stand, the state will be responsible for millions of dollars in compensation for new corrections officers whom the court said worked under a job title that did not officially exist from 1999 to 2009 during a 14-week training period.   

The dispute centers on a program the state began in January 1998 establishing the pay and training for newly hired corrections employees. Previously, new hires, who were classified as corrections officer recruits, were trained for 14 weeks while they worked at correctional facilities for a regular salary. Under the pilot program, new hires worked under the title student/trainee. The first 12 weeks of training took place at the State Corrections Officer Training Academy in Sea Girt, and the final two weeks were held at a correctional facility.  During that 14-week period, they earned a stipend of no more than $300 a week. That student/trainee title was allowed to exist for 10 years even though the state Department of Personnel did not certify it until 2009.

The corrections officers union, Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 105, five corrections officers sued in 2009, contending that as a pilot program, that arrangement was only valid for a year and after that the state was required to adopt a rule making the arrangement permanent. However, the state claimed it did not have to adopt the pilot program to make it legal beyond its first year. An appellate court panel in 2009 disagreed and permitted the case to continue.

On July 12, Superior Court Judge Douglas Hurd ruled the state had breached its implied contract with the union by not formally adopting the program and had to pay up. In a subsequent ruling issued Friday, Hurd said the case could be handled as a class action so that the corrections officers do not have to sue individually.

The pay differential could be from a couple hundred to several hundred per officer because the pay for new hires had increased over the past decade. In 2004, for example, the new hires earned the $300 weekly stipend during those 14 weeks when they should have been paid $766 a week. About 4,300 corrections officers are entitled to the back pay.

Local 105 President Trent Norman said he hopes to see the case resolved soon. “The judge made a wise decision,” he said. “I hope we will prevail a little further. The department (of corrections) has been dealing with this for some time.”

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As reported by nj.com, Governor Chris Christie is seeking to halt the early release of state prison inmates with the conditional veto of a separate bill today. The early release program has drawn a firestorm of controversy after two inmates who were allowed out of prison months early were accused of murder.

“Whatever original policy or principle motivated passage of this law, it failed to adequately consider the safety of the public,” Christie said in a statement. “In recent months we have seen the horrific consequences of the early release law, which is why we must not wait any longer to take action and change it.”

The program, which started in January, was sponsored by Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and signed into law by then-Governor Jon Corzine on his last day in office. Watson Coleman has it is wrong to blame the program for the actions of individual inmates.

A conditional veto is a powerful tool that allows the governor to modify legislation instead of rejecting it outright. Afterward, the bill returns to the Senate, which can accept the changes or seeks to overturn the governor’s recommendations with a two-thirds vote.

Christie conditionally vetoed a bill that would make some inmates wait 10 years, rather than three, for their mandatory parole review. He said that does not go far enough, saying the Parole Board should have more discretion to decide whether to grant a review. Christie went a step further in his conditional veto by seeking the repeal of the early release program, which became law more than a year ago.  

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said the early release program needs to be changed. “The legislative intent was a worthy one, but I do believe it warrants reexamination,” she said. “No one wants to see violent offenders, or those that have been convicted of egregious offenses, released early from those sentences.” 

Republican lawmakers, who had launched their own push to stop early releases through new legislation, hailed the governor’s conditional veto. “The governor’s action provides an additional path to repeal New Jersey’s early release law, and I am pleased that he has put his full support behind this effort,” Senator Diane Allen said in a statement. “With two homicides already committed by inmates released under the program, repealing this misguided policy should priority number one for the Legislature.”

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As reported by nj.com, Governor Chris Christie called for the elimination of an early release program for prison inmates, less than two weeks after an inmate released early allegedly killed a man in Jersey City. Authorities said the former inmate, Rondell Jones, shot and killed a Newark man during a dispute six weeks after release from state prison.

Because his administration cannot unilaterally halt the early releases, the Governor said he will push legislation to cancel it. He harshly criticized Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who sponsored what Christie called a “rotten idea” to release inmates early. “It’s tragic that because of Assemblywoman Watson Coleman’s philosophy on crime, that we now have one person who has lost his life,” he said. “Given the statistics on how many people are going to be released, we can only hope that there won’t be anybody else who loses their lives.”

Christie said 222 people have been released so far. The early release program, which allows certain inmates to be released on parole six months before their sentence ends, is part of a bill signed by former Governor Jon Corzine mandating more job training and educational programs in prison.

Coleman said the actions of one individual do not mean early releases should be scuttled. “This is a tragedy that anybody killed anybody,” she said. “But does that one act negate the validity of a whole system of reform?” Coleman said Christie was simply trying to smear her with his criticism. “I don’t hold the governor personally responsible for people who have died at the hands of violence because we don’t have enough police in our communities,” she said. “The governor is simply trying to deflect and blame. He does that better than fix things.”

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On December 7, 2009, New Jersey State Correction Officer Darrell Kornegay was walking to his car after buying food at a restaurant on Springfield Avenue in Irvington Township, one of the township’s main drags, when he was attacked close to 9:00 p.m. A masked man carrying a handgun, later identified as Raymon Scott, stopped Officer Kornegay, demanding money and car keys. After Kornegay said he was a corrections officer, Scott opened fire and ran.

According to State officials, Kornegay carries a handgun when off duty and fired at Scott, hitting him several times. Scott then entered a vehicle that later dropped him off at East Orange General Hospital. Thereafter, Scott was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and robbery.

Officer Kornegay is a 17 year veteran at Northern State Prison in Newark. This incident illustrates the dangers that public safety officers face not only during the course of their employment, but outside of it. It also shows how public safety officers try to ensure public safety whether on duty or off. Please check this blog periodically to ascertain updates regarding this incident as an investigation by the Attorney General’s office is underway.    

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