Hudson County Jail Inmate Dies In Custody While Serving 6-Month Sentence

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Authorities say that a 48-year-old woman serving a six-month sentence for a DWI charge out of Weehawken Municipal Court died while in custody at the Hudson County Correctional Facility last week.

The inmate passed away around 2 a.m. on Friday at the jail's infirmary, a Hudson County spokesman told NJ.com.

An autopsy is pending, the spokesperson said.

The incident is the second inmate death in six weeks at the Kearny facility, a Hudson County jail that also contracts to house hundreds of men and women in ICE custody.

• See related article: Dozens Protest At Hudson County Jail After Immigrant Dies (PHOTOS)

A civil rights complaint filed by two local civil rights groups with the Department of Homeland Security in 2016 alleged that the jail is one of the worst detention sites in New Jersey, the New York Times reported.

According to a 2016 study conducted by the Detention Watch Network, which interviewed people detained under ICE custody at the facility, inspectors found “delays in medical care, inconsistencies with medical records and subsequent treatment, and inappropriate responses to health needs.”

• See related article: Prisoner Found Hanging In Hudson County Jail Cell
• See related article: Time For Hudson County To Sever Ties With ICE, Activists Say

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Photo (protest at Hudson County Jail in June 2017): Jawaid Stationwala

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