Greenstein Statement on Announced Closure of Edna Mahan

TRENTON – Senator Linda Greenstein, the chair of the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee, issued the following statement in response to Governor Murphy’s announcement that the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women will be closed:

“This is the best and only decision to be made. The doors of Edna Mahan should be closed and the women must be transferred away from a facility where too many suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse for far too long.

“Our committee conducted hearings last spring that further documented the assaults by guards, the attempted cover-up by their colleagues and the failure by top officials to hold them accountable. As a result of what we knew about the troubled history of Mahan and the inexplicable delays in making reforms, we came to the conclusion that it should be closed.

“While the facility is being shut down, the sad and sordid history of abuse at Mahan is not over. We still need to see the consent decree with the Department of Justice and we must work to make needed reforms to the treatment of women held in the corrections system. The tragic lessons of Edna Mahan should not be lost or left behind as we ensure that nothing like this happens again and that the state’s correctional system treats women humanely.”