Power Goes Out At Essex County Prison

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — New Jersey’s largest county prison remained “fully operational” after it experienced a late-night power disruption, authorities said Wednesday – although a supervisors’ union at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark claims otherwise.

The prison’s generators switched on, so it was never without power and remained fully operational during the incident, a county spokesperson said.

The problem has been resolved, he added.

A spokesperson for a union that represents supervisors with the Essex County Department of Corrections offered a conflicting account of the incident, telling Patch that power went out at 12:24 a.m. and came on at 9:43 a.m.

“The majority of the time it was pitch-black inside the facility,” he said, adding that although generators were running, the air conditioning and refrigerators weren’t powered up.

The prison’s camera system was functioning, but servers were down, so there was limited ability to monitor some areas. Meanwhile, the medical housing units and treatment bays were down to battery lights, and “nothing” was on in Building 5, which includes seven dormitories and the intake areas where inmates are admitted and discharged, the union said.

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