Essex County Makes Moves To Help Youth Inmates, ICE Detainees

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Immigration detainees imprisoned at Essex County Correctional Facility and youth inmates at the county’s juvenile detention center will get a boost from two new initiatives, officials announced this week.

One program involves offering free lawyers to federal ICE detainees at the Essex County Correctional Facility. The other involves a new vocational program that teaches youth inmates at the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center how to operate construction equipment.

FREE LAWYERS FOR ICE DETAINEES

On Wednesday, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. announced his administration has officially drawn up three contracts – each potentially worth $250,000 – that will provide free legal services to immigrant detainees at Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark.

The Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders approved the contracts at their June 26 meeting. Each will run from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020.

County officials currently contract with ICE to house up to 928 immigrant detainees in civil custody. At $117 per day per detainee, the county rakes in as much as $30 to $40 million every year from its agreement with ICE, some critics say.

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

In March of 2019, DiVincenzo and the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders said they planned to use a portion of the profits from the ICE contract to hire free lawyers for detainees who can’t afford them.

That pledge took a big step towards fruition on Wednesday when the county officially chose three legal providers for the initiative: Seton Hall University School of Law, Rutgers University Law School and Legal Services of New Jersey.

Some of the tasks that the free lawyers will work on include securing bond, cancellation of removal, asylum, withholding and handling Convention Against Torture claims.

“When we unveiled this initiative in March, it wasn’t an empty promise,” DiVincenzo said. “Submitting these three contracts to the Board of Freeholders represents our commitment to provide enhanced legal representation to immigration detainees who can’t afford to hire their own attorneys.”

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

In a statement to the press, county officials pointed out that detainees at the Essex County Correctional Facility currently have access to “pro bono legal representation and a variety of immigration advocacy groups that provide assistance to the detainees and their families.”

The three contracts announced Wednesday would be in addition to these services, officials said.

According to officials, each provider will have to track several metrics:

“Each agency would be required to submit quarterly reports to the county with information about the number of clients receiving additional legal assistance, the number of those who were declined service, the types of cases accepted, the outcomes for cases that are completed, the native country and language of the detainees and the total monthly caseload and number of detainees represented.”

Lori Nessel, director of the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall University School of Law, said the funds will allow them to add a full-time attorney who can dedicate their time solely to representing immigrants at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

Nessel said that having a lawyer can triple a person’s chances of winning a deportation case.

“We've done a study on the effect that the services of counsel have on detained immigrants, and the results showed a tangible difference in terms of people’s ability to understand if relief is available, to seek relief, and to ultimately win their cases and come back to their families,” Nessel said.

According to county officials, the Essex County Correctional Facility is accredited by the American Correctional Association. It 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, local activists have been decrying conditions at the county jail for years, alleging that the profit from the ICE contract amounts to “blood money.”

Read about some of the most recent allegations facing the embattled prison.

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

Freeholder President Brendan Gill said the request for funds to provide representation to the detainees was in the works “well before” the DHS/OIG report issued a scathing report on living conditions at the jail in February 2019.

“I’m glad to see that the administration has supported this initiative to provide legal assistance to the undocumented detainees in the Essex County Correctional Facility,” Gill said. “Although $750,000 is a small amount of money in relation to what the county is taking in from the ICE contract, the passing of these resolutions is significant, and hopefully the first step towards universal representation.”

Gill said that moving forward, he will continue to call for “a responsible wind down” of the contract with ICE, as well as independent oversight of the Essex County Correctional Facility.

This week’s announcements from county officials earned praise from immigrant rights advocate Rosa Santana of First Friends of New York and New Jersey.

“We are pleased that a portion of the ICE contract is being allocated for pro bono legal services,” Santana said. “We urge Essex County to continue to invest by adding and expanding more services for our detained friends.”

(Story continues below)

JOB SKILLS FOR YOUTH INMATES

On Wednesday, county officials also announced the launch of a new job training program at Sojourn High School, the alternative school in the Newark-based Essex County Juvenile Detention Center.

The vocational program will teach juvenile inmates how to operate construction equipment, officials said.

According to a county news release:

“The enhanced SIMLOG Vocation Program, which builds upon the existing C-TECH program, will be offered to students in a new simulator lab. Students will complete approximately 30 to 40 hours on each training unit. Those who successfully pass the course will receive a certificate of completion and will have the opportunity to test for industry-recognized certifications and credentials.”

The lab itself includes three networked “simulator stations” that give future construction workers a feel for the tools they might actually encounter on a job site, including a forklift, a hydraulic excavator, a bulldozer and a wheel loader.

The new state-of-the-art simulation equipment cost about $70,000 and was paid for by Sojourn High School, officials said.

Hopefully, the program will help juvenile inmates find jobs once they leave custody, its supporters said.

• See related article: Juvenile Detention Students Graduate, Show 'Education Is Liberation'

“Having the ability to offer vocational courses is something we are all proud of,” Essex County Juvenile Detention Center Director Dennis Hughes said. “Construction and technology are two fields that are in high demand now and we are preparing these young people to be able to step into these roles.”

Sojourn High School Principal Rodney Jenkins said that the new program will take students to “the next level” of success.

“In the beginning of the school year, Director Hughes and I had a conversation about the kinds of educational programs he wished we could add here, and his response was a vocational unit,” Jenkins said.

“For years our students have proven their intelligence by earning their high school diplomas/GED and some even completed collegiate coursework while remaining in the Juvenile Detention Center,” Jenkins said. “This will be another opportunity for them to excel.”

“Our students are learners and it is up to us to provide the resources to ensure they become productive citizens,” Essex Regional Educational Services Commission Superintendent Laurie Newell said.

The new program also inspired comments of support from three local elected officials:

• Newark City Council President Mildred Crump – “I’m excited about what is taking place for our students. This helps us move the needle forward so we don't remain stagnant.”
• Newark Central Ward Councilwoman LaMonica McIver – “We are happy to celebrate a vocational program that is the first of its kind in juvenile detention centers in New Jersey.”
• Essex County Freeholder Vice President Wayne Richardson – “What a great opportunity for our young people to learn about and prepare for career opportunities.”

County officials offered the following information about education at the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center:

“The Essex County Juvenile Detention Center has an 8,000-book library on site and was the first detention facility in the State to offer a full 6½ hour school day for detainees. Sojourn High School (SHS) is an alternative education program designed to serve both classified and non-classified at-risk students. Established in 1997, the program provides students with an alternative to traditional educational experience and maintains a low student to staff ratio. Sojourn High School consists of middle and high school students who have been pre-adjudicated, exhibit chronic discipline problems, and are in danger of not graduating. Students earn credits toward graduation by documenting skills demonstrated and proficiencies mastered. The SHS curriculum is based on the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards and the student's Individual Program Plan (IPP) or Individual Educational Program (IEP).”

Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com