The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) is responsible for operations and management of prison facilities in the U.S. state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The department operates 13 major institutions—seven adult male correctional facilities, three youth facilities, one facility for sex offenders, one women's correctional institution and a central reception / intake unit—and a Stabilization and Reintegration Program. The department is headquartered in Trenton. The NJDOC's facilities house a combined total of 20,000 inmates in minimum, medium and maximum security levels. Approximately 1,200 inmates are incarcerated, and an equal number released each month. The median term for inmates is six years. 47% of inmates are serving terms of one-to-five years; 17% are serving terms of six-to-nine years; and 33% are serving maximum sentences of 10 years or more. As of January 2003, 984 offenders were serving

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

s, including 14 offenders under

death sentences Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

(all of which have now been commuted, as capital punishment was abolished in 2007).

Jurisdiction and law enforcement authority

New Jersey State Correctional Police Officers, Parole Officers and Corrections Investigators are authorized to exercise police officer powers statewide. With this authority, Correctional Police Officers are required to enforce NJRS 2C (New Jersey Criminal Code) within the scope of their employment. New Jersey State Correctional Police Officers are authorized to carry on duty the Heckler & Koch USP in .40 S&W. Correction Officers may optionally qualify to carry an authorized off-duty firearm. All off-duty firearms and ammunition must conform to the approved list provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Since the establishment of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, 24 officers have died in the line of duty.

Ranks

There are four sworn titles (referred to as ranks) in the New Jersey Department of Corrections:

Media campaigns

The New Jersey Department of Corrections established the "Be Smart Choose Freedom" television advertisement campaign in 2005. The State of New Jersey produced 30–60-second public service announcements to warn state residents against going to prison. The Mississippi Department of Corrections, the state corrections agency of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, decided to start its own "Be Smart Choose Freedom" campaign and use the commercials that aired in New Jersey. The NJDOC commercials were available in English, with one public service announcement also having a Spanish version.

Facilities

Prison capacity and costs

According to the state budget for fiscal year 2016, the Department of Corrections has capacity to house 20,634 inmates and anticipates a daily average population of 18,894 inmates. It has 6,950 employees for a personnel ratio of 1 person for every 2.8 inmates. The state legislature appropriated $808.4 million to the Department of Corrections in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, of which $525 million was used in salaries and wages.Office of Management and Budget (New Jersey Department of the Treasury), "Department and Branch Recommendations: Corrections" in
State of New Jersey: The Governor's FY2016 Detailed Budget
', February 25, 2015, D-66 through D-71. Retrieved August 13, 2015.

Death row

Prior to the 2007 repeal of the death penalty, the death row for men and the execution chamber were in the Capital Sentence Unit (CSU) at the

New Jersey State Prison 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 correcti ...

. This unit was first established in 1907. The first death by electrocution occurred on December 11, 1907.Historical Data on Capital Sentence Unit at New Jersey State Prison

. New Jersey Department of Corrections. May 18, 2005. Retrieved on March 21, 2016. On December 17, 2007, Governor Jon Corzine signed a bill passed by the New Jersey General Assembly passed which abolishes the death penalty, making New Jersey the first state to legislatively eliminate capital punishment since 1965. The day prior, December 16, 2007, Governor Corzine commuted the death sentences of the remaining eight men on death row to "life imprisonment without parole".

References

External links

New Jersey Department of Corrections
{{authority control State corrections departments of the United States Penal system in New Jersey State law enforcement agencies of New Jersey