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News Alert: CEC Preparing to Assist Overcrowded County Jail

Roseland, NJ, May 19 -

County looks to prevent jail overcrowding

Thursday, May 18, 2006
BY JONATHAN CASIANO
Star-Ledger Staff

With the Essex County Jail approaching capacity and more prisoners arriving by the day, the county is considering a $3 million contract with a private facility in Newark to handle some of the overflow.

Logan Hall, a secured, residential treatment facility on Freling huysen Avenue, would house up to 120 low-risk male inmates if the freeholders approve the contract next week, freeing up beds in the jail for more serious offenders.

The facility, which currently houses state parole violators, is operated by Community Education Centers of Roseland, a national firm with halfway houses and treatment centers in seven states.

One of those facilities, Delaney Hall, sits adjacent to the county jail on Doremus Avenue and has contracted with Essex County since 2000. That year, the county paid Delaney Hall $3 million to house up to 250 inmates. The contract has since been increased to $12 million, with Delaney Hall housing up to 790 inmates, nearly a quarter of the county's prisoner population. The county jail holds up to 2,298 in mates.

But with 2,176 inmates in the jail and Delaney Hall nearly full as well, county officials said they had to start looking elsewhere for beds.

"There's a trend nationally that persons incarcerated has increased at a rate of 3.5 percent per calendar year, and we've seen that trend here over the past couple years," said jail director Scott Faunce. "To be proactive and responsible, we're making arrangements to provide appropriate bed space for the population we may expect here in the near future."

The Delaney Hall contract is funded entirely through a state grant for incarceration alternatives. The county expects that grant to be increased to $15 million this year, therefore providing the additional $3 million necessary to contract with Logan Hall.

William Palatucci, senior vice president for CEC, said Logan Hall will operate just like Delaney Hall, offering substance-abuse treatment as well as anger-management counseling, criminal-behavior modification and other services. Faunce said only minimum-security in mates will be considered for placement in the new facility.

Though Essex County's inmate population has crept toward 3,000 prisoners before, this is the first time the county has seen such numbers since the jail opened two years ago. The surge has pushed Delaney Hall to its limits and forced some female inmates in the jail to sleep on cots.

Faunce attributed the recent surge in inmates to national crime trends, as well as a jail initiative to thoroughly check all inmates for outstanding warrants upon entry.

Part of the problem in housing the inmates, however, dates to 1999, when a fourth housing unit was scrapped from the new jail's blueprints to save money. According to a report published by the freeholders' public safety/penal committee in March, that unit would have housed an additional 102 inmates.

In the report, the committee recommended the county develop a long-term plan to handle additional prisoners. Freeholder Ralph Caputo, who chairs the committee, said Logan Hall might be an ade quate temporary solution, but it still doesn't meet the jail's long- term need for more beds.

"So much time was used to build this place and resolve all the problems, and now we're overcrowded again," Caputo said. "It's like building a new school and then enrollment goes up and the building's obsolete. It's not a good situation at all."

The freeholders will vote on the contract Wednesday.

Jonathan Casiano covers Essex County government. He may be reached at [email protected].