NJ Training School in Monroe had ‘culture of abuse’, new lawsuit says
Fifty men, who allegedly were abused as minors at the New Jersey Training School in Monroe, have filed suit against the State of New Jersey claiming the state failed to protect them from decades of sexual abuse.
The 193-page lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Middlesex County Superior Court, details how the men as adolescents were allegedly abused by staffers at the facility, more commonly known as Jamesburg, from the 1970s to the 2010s.
Attorney General Matt Platkin said hours after the lawsuit was filed that the allegations would be “swiftly and thoroughly” investigated.
In a statement Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy's spokesperson Tyler Jones, said the state is “committed to the responsible closing” of the school, first announced nearly six years ago.
Delaying the closure is the creation of three additional facilities, one each in northern, central and southern New Jersey, and so far, only two have been set up, the statement said.
The lawsuit calls the facility "an undated, unsafe, prison-like juvenile detention center" that has been operated by the state since the 1860s.
"Children confined in the facility have long been subjected to a culture of exploitation, violence and rampant sexual abuse," according to the lawsuit filed by the New York City law firm, Levy Konigsberg.
"Young boys were entrusted into the care and custody of the New Jersey Training School. Instead, they lived in a hotbed of severe and widespread sexual abuse that lasted for decades. The state must end the culture of silence and coverups – and finally take responsibility for its breach of trust," said Moshe Maimon, a partner at Levy Konigsberg. "This lawsuit is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the damage caused by a broken juvenile justice system."
In 2018, former Gov. Chris Christie announced the facility would be closed.
"The New Jersey Training School is one of the oldest, most antiquated youth prisons in the nation and the time has come to close its gates for the last time,” Christie said at the time.
Built in 1867 and comprising 68 buildings over 900 acres, the facility housed about 150 juvenile offenders at about the time Christie announced the closure.
Incarcerating this small number of youths on an aging and largely empty campus is inefficient, impractical and expensive, according to the governor's release.
The facility has little, if any, access to public transportation, making it difficult for families to visit, limiting the critical role families can play in the care and rehabilitation of the youths.
The lawsuit charges that the sexual abuse ranged from inappropriate strip searches to sexual assault.
The victims, according to the lawsuit, were regularly offered contraband – such as cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol – or privileges in exchange for sexual favors.
Though many of the victims reported the abuse at the time, no action was taken to stop the action, the lawsuit alleges.
As an example of the abuse, a 33-year-old Middlesex County resident, who was 15-16 years old when he was at the facility in 2006-07, alleges that when one time he was late arriving at the showers, a male guard cornered him, grabbed his buttocks and penetrated his anus with his fingers. The juvenile was regularly bribed by correctional officers with alcohol and cigarettes, according to the lawsuit.
A 45-year-old Somerset County male, who was 16 during his 1994 confinement, alleges he was abused on a regular basis by a male correctional officer. The officer would isolate the teen and touch his genitals over and underneath his clothing and on three occasions, raped him, the suit alleges.
The officer allegedly bribed him with offers of cigarettes, extra food and access to pornography and also threatened him against telling anybody about the abuse.
The teen reported the abuse to a female staffer, but she told him not to tell anyone else, the suit says.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Training School in Monroe had ‘culture of abuse’, new lawsuit says
