New Jersey Bills Would Protect Prisoners’ Rights, Supporters Say

Activists with grassroots advocacy groups in New Jersey are throwing their weight behind a pair of separate bills in the State Legislature that they say will help protect the rights of prison inmates… including those who didn’t belong in jail in the first place.

In New Jersey, two potential laws have been put before lawmakers. The first, A-1037/S-1765, would create a way for wrongfully imprisoned people to get monetary compensation for time spent on the state sex offender registry, parole or probation.

The second bill, A-314/S-3261, would limit the use of solitary confinement in New Jersey’s prisons.

Learn more about each bill below.

PUNISHED FOR ‘A CRIME I DIDN’T COMMIT’

For years, Dion Harrell struggled with homelessness, struggled to get a job and wasn’t allowed see his children. These are just a few of the nightmarish consequences that the Long Branch resident was forced to endure after spending decades on the sex offender registry for a crime he didn’t commit, a group of New Jersey activists says.

On Thursday, the newly formed New Jersey Coalition for the Wrongfully Convicted announced that its members are throwing their support behind A-1037/S-1765, a bill that would help people like Harrell get a measure of justice.

According to a statement from the group, it’s made up of “criminal justice, civil rights, labor, and other organizations.” Its members include the Innocence Project, the New Jersey ACLU, the Hotel Trades Council, Centurion Ministries, “New Jersey exonerees” and the bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (District 37).

Here’s what the bill would do if it becomes law, according to the group:

“This bill will change New Jersey’s wrongful conviction compensation law to remove the current bar on exonerees who pleaded guilty, and provide compensation for years wrongfully spent on the sex offender registry, parole or probation.”

“Currently, exonerees who pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit cannot receive state compensation, despite the fact that many of them lost years of their life to prison,” the coalition stated in a news release.

According to the group, New Jersey exonerees who pleaded guilty to a crime were eligible for state compensation until former governor Chris Christie barred them in 2013. In addition, the current law does not compensate exonerees for the years they wrongfully spent on parole, probation or the sex offender registry.

For an example of why the bill is needed, just turn to the frustrating story of Dion Harrell, the group said.

“During the decades I was on the sex offender registry for a crime I didn’t commit, I was homeless, struggled to get a job and couldn’t see my children,” said Harrell, a Long Branch resident who was exonerated by DNA evidence after wrongfully spending four years in prison and nearly two decades on the registry.

“It’s really important for the state to compensate me and others in my situation for those years that were like living in a prison without bars,” Harrell charged.

Eric Kelley, an exoneree from Paterson, said that he spent 24 years in prison despite being innocent.

“State compensation is part of making things right for New Jersey exonerees like me,” Kelley said. “Even though I didn't plead guilty, I can understand why innocent people do… fear. The innocent who plead guilty deserve to be compensated by the state that took away their freedom.”

“No amount of money can make up for the years of my life I lost in prison for a crime I didn't commit, but the least the state can do is to provide fair financial help, housing, medical assistance and other support to the wrongfully convicted,” said Byron Halsey, an exoneree from Plainfield.

Assemblyman Johnson said that he was proud to sponsor A-1037 and join the launch of the NJ Coalition for the Wrongfully Convicted.

“It is unacceptable that there are people who have been severely harmed by our criminal justice system, and yet are unable to seek fair compensation for the time that they spent behind bars,” Johnson said. “I look forward to working with coalition members and my colleagues in the Assembly to pass this bill in 2019.”

• See related article: NJ Is Sending Innocent People To Jail, Republican Senator Says
• See related article: Russian Native Jailed In New Jersey Is 'Innocent Victim,' Judge Says

Story continues below video.

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: ‘LIVING IN A CAGE’

Later this month, six survivors of solitary confinement in New Jersey will appear on a stage to share their personal stories of solitary, reflecting on how the experience of living in a cage the size of a parking space – sometimes for years at a time – altered their lives indelibly.

The Jan. 23 event will also feature an “immersive, haunting virtual tour of solitary confinement,” simulating both the physical environment and the psychological disorientation of prolonged isolation, organizers said.

It’s part of a push to get A-314/S-3261 on radar of state lawmakers… and the public, according to the New Jersey Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (NJ-CAIC).

According to a statement from the NJ-CAIC:

“The Isolated Confinement Restriction Act would greatly limit the use of solitary confinement in New Jersey prisons. The bill would ban isolation for more then 15 consecutive days, and no more than 20 days per 60-day period, with exceptions for genuine emergencies.”

NJ-CAIC members said that the bill would also prohibit any member of “vulnerable populations,” as classified by clinical staff, from being placed in isolation. Vulnerable populations include people aged 21 and younger, people aged 65 and older, people with developmental disabilities, people with a disability based on mental illness, people with serious medical conditions, and people who are pregnant.

“We must begin to understand what solitary confinement does to humans,” said Lydia Thornton, who spent nine-and-a-half months in solitary confinement in New Jersey. “It changes our brain chemistry – the studies demonstrate it, and our experiences confirm it. The vast majority of us will come back to our communities. We need to come back better, not more damaged. We call ourselves survivors, because we are. We speak for those who cannot.”

“New Jersey ranks fourth in the country in the number of prisoners who are held in isolation for more than six years,” agreed Amos Caley, an organizer with NJ-CAIC. “This is unconscionable.”

In addition to Thornton, speakers at the Jan. 23 event will include:

• Kevin Campfield, a solitary survivor and an advocate with NJ-CAIC who was released last year from a New Jersey prison
• Nafeesah Goldsmith, who was 26-years-old when she was placed in solitary confinement for 60 days at New Jersey State Prison
• Mark Hopkins, who spent more than 180 days in solitary confinement in New Jersey
• Ron Pierce, the Democracy and Justice Fellow at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (during his more than 30 years of incarceration in New Jersey prisons, he spent a total of about four years in solitary confinement)
• Justice Rountree, an organizer with NJ-CAIC, who spent a total of five years in isolation while incarcerated in New Jersey

The group’s members include the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ), the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and the American Friends Service Committee.

The event takes place from 6 to 8:15 p.m. at The Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street in New York City. (Learn more here)

• See related article: Jail Suicide Rate Skyrocketing In New Jersey, Report Says
• See related article: 1 In 10 New Jersey Inmates Will Likely Die In Jail

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Photo: Dion Harrell (courtesy of Hotel Trades Council)