October 1 Report Release: Testimonies of Isolation in New Jersey Prisons

Insider NJ | September 30, 2024

For Immediate Release

A new report from NJ Prison Justice Watch suggests that the NJ Department of Corrections has failed to comply with the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act (ICRA), which was passed into law in 2019. “Isolated Voices: the State of Solitary NJ” is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, October 1, with a public briefing held as an online webinar beginning at 6:00 that evening.

The 11-page report contains testimonies from people currently incarcerated in New Jersey prisons, many of whom live in conditions that are both prohibited by state law (in particular ICRA) and condemned by international law under the 2015 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. These testimonies reinforce and supplement the data published by the NJ Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson in October 2023 (“Out of Cell Time”), which found isolation practices still prevalent in all of New Jersey’s major prisons. This report from NJPJW takes these findings further by amplifying the human impact of these practices, and showing that isolated housing is often accompanied by other forms of neglect, namely, inhumane housing conditions and inadequate medical and mental health services.

The October 1 launch event is open to the public, with a special invitation to concerned lawmakers and state administrators. The virtual event, hosted through NJPJW member organization the Latino Action Network Foundation, will feature testimonies of isolation, a detailed analysis of the four-year failure to implement ICRA, and a review of the policy recommendations contained in the report.

To learn more about this report, and to register for the “State of Solitary” event, please visit www.njpjw.org/2024report.

Members of NJ Prison Justice Watch:

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey

American Friends Service Committee, Prison Watch Program

Latino Action Network

Latino Action Network Foundation

National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Nassau Presbyterian Church Mass Incarceration Task Force

NeighborCorps Reentry Services

New Jersey Institute for Social Justice

Returning Citizens Support Group

Salvation and Social Justice

Transformative Justice Initiative

Unitarian Universalist Faith Action

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