Activists Rally In Newark: 'No ICE Blood Money At Essex Prison'

NEWARK, NJ — A long-running fight against Essex County’s prison contract with ICE got a nod of support from the Newark City Council president earlier this week.

On Wednesday, a group of immigration and prisoner advocates gathered for the latest in a series of protests at the Essex County Hall of Records on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Newark. (Watch a video from the rally at the bottom of this article)

As they have in the past, activists blasted the county’s contract with ICE to house federal detainees at the Essex County Correctional Facility. This time, though, they had a key supporter on hand: Newark City Council President Mildred Crump.

“I don't think they should be jailed,” Crump said, referring to the ICE detainees who enter Essex County Correctional Facility. “There should be some kind of center... where they can remain until their immigration status, if it's in question, is solved.”

• See related article: New Jersey's Plan For Youth Prison Reform Causes Worry In Newark

What kinds of profit does the county make from its contract with ICE?

“They get paid at $117 per day per detainee,” a member of the American Friends Service Committee in Newark told NJ Spotlight. “That’s a bit over $36 million dollars a year… Essex County anticipates $42.7 million payment from the contract in 2019. We don’t have exact costs to maintain each bed, but it’s possible the county makes a good $15 to 20 million in profit.”

• See related article: Essex County's Prison Profits Will Continue Under Proposed Budget

In March – acting in response to activists’ demands – an Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholder committee announced that the county won't be nixing its controversial contract with ICE.

"Although there are strong opinions on whether we should keep this contract or not, it is my personal opinion that an immediate break of the contract will not result in detainees being released," Freeholder President Brendan Gill said.

It will, however, result in greater distance between the detainees, their families and their lawyers, Gill stated.

"This is a reality that cannot be ignored," Gill said. "So while I am committed to making sure that the county administration enacts new measures of oversight and assistance, we will consider all options."

One such option? Free legal assistance.

Essex County officials said that they plan to use $750,000 from the ICE contract to create a "legal services fund" to provide representation to ICE detainees at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

"We have always been committed to providing the best possible conditions for people being detained at our correctional facility," Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said. "This will ensure detainees have the legal representation they are entitled to."

• See related article: Essex County Plans To Use ICE Profits To Give Inmates Lawyers

ESSEX COUNTY JAIL, ICE AND ‘BLOOD MONEY’

Recently, Essex County Correctional Facility has come under fire for several alleged health and safety violations, as well as suicide risks to mentally ill inmates.

• See related article: Mentally Ill Inmate Hung Himself While In Straitjacket, Family Says
• See related article: Jail Served Us Meatballs That Smelled Like Feces, Essex County Inmate Says

Local activists have been holding protests and rallies decrying the county's contract with ICE for years, calling it “blood money.”

• See related article: Anti-ICE Christmas Carolers Crash Freeholder Meeting (VIDEO)
• See related article: More Oversight, No ICE At Essex County Prison, Activists Demand

According to county officials, the Essex County Correctional Facility – which opened in 2004 – has been accredited by the American Correctional Association, which has set standards for correctional facilities and detention centers in the United States, American territories and some foreign countries, since 2013. The prison has received 100 percent compliance with the New Jersey State Department of Corrections every year since 2006, and has been accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities since 2007.

However, the jail has recently come under fire for a stomach-churning variety of alleged safety violations.

Last month, the brother of an East Newark man who hung himself in August 2018 while imprisoned at the Essex County Correctional Facility filed a lawsuit against the county, the former warden, Charles Green, and the corporate healthcare provider at the jail, CFG Health Systems.

During a Department of Homeland Security OIG inspection in 2018, officials allegedly found open packages of raw chicken leaking blood, "slimy and discolored" lunch meat and "unrecognizable" hamburger patties.

"For dinner, we were served meatballs that smelled like fecal matter," one inmate claimed.

The Essex County jail was one of three in New Jersey that received scathing condemnation for "inhumane" conditions in a February 2018 report from Human Rights First.

Detainees at the Essex facility said that they often run out of water in the units and that the water from the bathroom tap is undrinkable. "Outdoor recreation" at the jail is an indoor room with a barred-over skylight that allows some fresh air into the otherwise dark and enclosed space, the report stated.

• See related article: Maggots, Squalor For ICE Detainees At 3 'Inhumane' NJ Jails
• See related article: ICE Immigrant Detainee Dies In Essex County; Prisoner Death Toll Increases

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