New Jersey State Prison

Coordinates: 40°12′25″N 74°45′24″W / 40.20694°N 74.75667°W / 40.20694; -74.75667
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
New Jersey State Prison
Aerial view of the prison in the 1940s
Map
Coordinates40°12′25″N 74°45′24″W / 40.20694°N 74.75667°W / 40.20694; -74.75667
StatusOperational
Security classMaximum
Capacity1,819[1]
Population1,620 (as of January 1, 2016 (2016-01-01))
Opened1836
(188 years ago) (1836)
Former nameTrenton State Prison
Managed byNew Jersey Department of Corrections
Street addressThird and Federal Streets
Trenton, NJ 08625
WebsiteNJ Department of Corrections

The New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state men's prison in Trenton, New Jersey operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. It is the oldest prison in New Jersey and one of the oldest correctional facilities in the United States. It is the state's only completely maximum security institution, housing the most difficult and/or dangerous male offenders in the inmate population. NJSP operates two security units and provides a high level of custodial supervision and control. Professional treatment services, such as education and social work, are a priority at the facility. The Bureau of State Use Industries operated the bedding and clothing shops that were once located in Shop Hall at the facility. These industries have been relocated to South Woods State Prison.

NJSP also housed New Jersey's

Megan Kanka. This crime inspired the passing of Megan's Law
, which requires communities to be notified when a convicted sex offender moves into their area.

History

The New Jersey State Prison is a complex that consists of three separate but interconnected physical plants from three different eras of prison construction that took place on the property. The three sections are the 1798 Penitentiary House, the 1832 Fortress Penitentiary, and the 1982 contemporary prison facility.

The 1798 Penitentiary House, which was the first state prison in New Jersey and the third in the nation after the

Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia and Newgate in New York City, is also the oldest building still in operation as part of an active, working prison in the United States. This allows NJSP to lay claim to being the oldest continuously operating state prison in the US. The only surviving portion of the 1798 Penitentiary House is the original Front House, which functioned originally as the living quarters for the Keeper of the State Prison, the four Assistant Keepers (the first 4 men who served in the capacity of what are known today as State Correction Officers), the Armory, administrative office space on the first floor and a row of cells for the confinement of disruptive prisoners in the basement. Since the Penitentiary House stopped housing prisoners within a few years after the 1832 Fortress Penitentiary opened, the Auburn Correctional Facility
can lay claim to having the oldest continuously operating cell house in the US.

After completion and the relocation of the Penitentiary House inmates to the new

National Guard equipment and services that were based there were transferred to the newly completed ANG base at Sea Girt
, at which time control of the empty compound was returned to the prison. In 1930, all of the Penitentiary House buildings were demolished, with the exception of the Front House, which was remodeled into a residence for the Keeper of the State Prison, a use for which it is still designated today. The cleared land on which the Penitentiary House cell houses and shop buildings had stood previously were enclosed in a 22 foot high reinforced concrete wall and opened as the Big Yard in 1930. This new, large recreation yard eased the cramped conditions inside the walls of the main compound, which up until that time had limited space to devote to outside recreation.

The second oldest portion of New Jersey State Prison, the Fortress Penitentiary, was constructed between 1832 and 1836, when the inmates from the Penitentiary House next door were moved over. The 1832 facility was constructed on a contiguous plot of land already owned by the State and controlled by the Penitentiary House, under the supervision of the Keeper of the State Prison, and made use of inmate labor during the four years of construction. Consequently, the 1836 Fortress Penitentiary compound is considered to be an addition to the existing State Prison on the property. This assertion is valid because the two compounds coexisted on the same property and were managed and controlled by the Keeper as a prison complex in which the same inmate population worked and were housed. As the State Prison is operated as a unified complex composed of separate distinct compounds today, this conclusion is defensible.

Prison in 1917

In his 1917 master's thesis, published as "History of the Penal, Reformatory and Correctional Institutions of New Jersey" the late Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes, a noted American historian, published a history and analysis of the state prisons, reformatories and penal institutions of New Jersey up to that time. His work was an analysis of the application of the various penal philosophies and their successes, failures and changes from 1798 to 1917. He separated the Penitentiary House and the 1832 Fortress Penitentiary into two "systems" in this work. The term "system" as used by Dr. Barnes was at that time used as "paradigm" is today — his "First Prison System in NJ" as applied to the Penitentiary House and "Second Prison System in NJ" as applied to the 1832 facility did not describe two separate prisons nor did it indicate two separate prison agencies.[3]

This was a history and description of New Jersey's transition away from the "congregate system" of confinement, wherein all persons regardless of age, sex or mental state were simply confined in the Penitentiary House, to the "Pennsylvania system" of confinement, which consisted of keeping prisoners confined in single cells, completely isolated from other prisoners and the Keepers. The authority and management of the State Prison as an agency did not change – The Keeper as the agency head supervised the Penitentiary House, oversaw and contributed inmate labor to the construction of the Fortress Penitentiary between 1832 and 1836, and supervised the transfer of all inmates from the old to the new compound in 1836 and continued on in the new compound. This construction, transfer and continuation of operations from one side of the property to the other provides a link between the old and new compounds, and demonstrates that the New Jersey State Prison has existed and continuously operated in the same location since 1798. Thus, Dr. Barnes described a change in penal theory and practice, not the abolition of the old buildings and governing agency and the substitution of a new one. No break in operation or management occurred.

The 1832 facility was expanded several times throughout the 19th Century with new construction adding wings in the years between 1859 and 1907, and larger Shop Hall buildings as well. In 1895–96 when 6 Wing was constructed, the original walls were extended to the corners of the old Penitentiary House compound to enclose that wing as well as the newer Shop Hall building, which heretofore had been outside the main walls.

The carrying out of death sentences in the state was moved from county jails to NJSP in 1907, when the first execution was carried out using the new electric chair, built by Carl Adams of Trenton, in the shops of his Adams Electric Company. The last such electrocution took place in 1963. In 1979 the Death House (8 Wing), along with the old hospital wing were demolished to make way for a new Gymnasium.

Ground was broken for the contemporary facility in 1979, and it was completed in 1982.[4] No additions have been made since that time.

Death row

See also: Capital punishment in New Jersey

Prior to the 2007 repeal of the death penalty, the death row for men and execution chamber was in the Capital Sentence Unit (CSU) at the New Jersey State Prison. This unit was first established in 1907. The first execution by electrocution occurred on December 11, 1907.[5]

In 1999 death row inmate Robert "Mudman" Simon, who was convicted of killing a police officer, died during a fight.[6]

The lethal injection chamber at the prison was never used, and the death penalty was repealed in December 2007.[7] Therefore, the final execution to take place at the prison was a January 22, 1963 electrocution.[5] The former lethal injection room now serves as an office.[7]

Within the prison are different zones with the red list zone holding high security risks. It is where prisoners who are incredibly powerful, have class A felonies, or have enough wealth or connections to beat their charges are kept.[8]

Notable inmates

Part of the 1832 "Fortress" portion of the prison, with modern modifications

References

  1. ^ "Corrections" (PDF). New Jersey Dept. of Treasury. State of New Jersey. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  2. ^ Richburg, Keith (14 December 2007). "N.J. Approves Abolition of Death Penalty; Corzine to Sign". Washington Post. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  3. ^ Barnes, Harry Elmer (1917). History of the Penal, Reformatory and Correctional Institutions of New Jersey, McCrellish & Quigley (Thesis).
  4. ^ "BOND ISSUE IN NEW JERSEY FOR PRISON EXPANSION ON NOVEMBER BALLOT". New York Times. No. 5 September 1988. NY/Region. 5 September 1982. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Historical Data on Capital Sentence Unit at New Jersey State Prison" (Archive). New Jersey Department of Corrections. May 18, 2005. Retrieved on March 21, 2016.
  6. ^ L., Lisa, Colangelo Corky, and Siemaszko. "DEATH ROW INMATE KILLED IN JAIL FIGHT" (Archive). New York Daily News. Wednesday, September 8, 1999. Retrieved on March 21, 2016.
  7. ^
    Times of Trenton
    . October 10, 2011. Retrieved on March 21, 2016.
  8. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  9. ^ Charley Wingate - State of New Jersey Department of Corrections(04/23/2020)
  10. ^ ""Rubin Carter." 2014. The Biography.com website". biography.com. 7 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Criminal Justice Degrees Guide (Ft. The Wire) – 10 Real People That Inspired Characters on "The Wire"". Genius.
  12. ISBN 9781439184523
    – via Google Books.
  13. ^ "Inmate File #17400 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann, 1934–1965". New Jersey State Archives. State of New Jersey. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  14. Newspapers.com
    .
  15. ^ Doyle, Bill (2021-01-22). "The Last Man Executed in New Jersey". New Jersey 101.5. Archived from the original on 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  16. ^ "Killer's prison-transfer request outrages N.J. victims' families". NJ.com. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  17. ^ Venn, Lydia (January 12, 2023). "What Netflix's The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker leaves out about Kai". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  18. The Hartford Courant
    . July 28, 1984. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  19. ^ "NY, NJ bomb suspect Ahmad Khan Rahimi out of hospital, into prison". WABC Eyewitness News. October 18, 2016. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  20. ^ Kahn, Robert (2021-03-10). "What Really Happened With the 'Last Call' Killer Who Terrorized NYC's Gay Nightspots in 1980s and '90s?". A&E. Archived from the original on 2022-09-14. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  21. ^ "Murder Defendant Admits He Killed 7". The New York Times. 11 July 1970. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  22. ^ "Mont Vernon murderer Steven Spader moved to prison in New Jersey--".

Further reading

  • A History of the Penal, Reformatory, and Correctional Institutions of the State of New Jersey: Analytical and Documentary, Harry Elmer Barnes, MacCrellish & Quigley Company, Trenton, NJ 1918
  • Trenton State Gazette, Trenton Evening Times, Sunday Times Advertiser, various articles between 1890 and 1979.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_Jersey_State_Prison&oldid=1226620529"