Murder Charge For Inmate's Fatal Beating At South Jersey Prison: Prosecutor

LEESBURG, NJ — A then-inmate at an embattled South Jersey prison was charged Tuesday with murder for the fatal beating of another inmate, authorities announced. The charge comes several months after Martin Sanchez was found dead in his cell.

Bruce Duette, who was charged with murder, was an inmate at the prison on Nov. 21, when Sanchez was found dead. On that day, officials found Sanchez unresponsive in his cell, with apparent trauma to his head and face, according to the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office.

Medical personnel pronounced Sanchez dead shortly thereafter. He was 41.

• Read more: Inmate's Death At NJ Prison Investigated As Homicide: Prosecutor

Duette is now incarcerated in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. It wasn't immediately clear when or why the state moved Duette to a different facility. Patch reached out to the New Jersey Department of Corrections and will update with any response.

The man was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2013, including 17 years without the possibility of parole. The Trenton resident pleaded guilty to first-degree conspiracy to commit murder for conspiring with other Gangster Killer Bloods gang members to commit a drive-by shooting in 2005.

Duette's earliest-possible release date was March 8, 2030, according to state records.

Sanchez's death sparked an investigation from the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the state corrections department's Special Investigations Division.

The Bayside prison has been subject to controversy in recent years. The facility contained a hefty portion of New Jersey prisons that lacked air conditioning last summer. Fifty-eight percent of Bayside's beds lacked air conditioning, with temperatures inside the cells reaching up to 91 degrees, according to a report from the New Jersey Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson.

• Read more: NJ Prison Hit 94 Degrees As Inmates, Officers Lacked Air Conditioning

In November, Bayside corrections officer John Makos of Millville admitted to physically assaulting inmates for both real and fabricated violations of the prison’s rule, which resulted in several inmate injuries and violated their civil rights, prosecutors said.

Makos is also named in a lawsuit brought by former inmates detailing the excessive use of force and violent environment in Bayside State Prison, according to an NJ.com report.

• Read more: NJ Corrections Officer Admits Assaulting Inmates: Feds

In 2020, a video on social media showed a group of men — one of whom was Joseph DeMarco, a Bayside corrections officer — mocking protesters in Gloucester County and re-enacting the murder of George Floyd. The state fired DeMarco, with the Department of Corrections calling the incident "hateful and disappointing. Gov. Phil Murphy called the group's actions "repugnant."