Dear NOW-NJ Brothers and Sisters:
Retrospectively, on December 12,
2007 the NJ Women's Prison Coalition organized a
protest against the transfer of 40 women prisoners
to the Men's Maximum Prison in Trenton. The women's
prisoner's cells were raided, they were strip
searched, and video taped in front of male
correction officers. NOW-NJ Combating Racism Task
Force members attended the protest. And law suit was
filed against the New Jersey Department of
Corrections by the ACLU on the same day.
The Department of Corrections is
asking the court to throw out Jones v. Hayman which
is brought on behalf of the forty women who were
transferred from the women's prison in Clinton to
New Jersey State Men's Maximum Security Prison in
Trenton. In the complaint, ACLU describes what
happened to the women, and also (to simplify a
little) lay out two main reasons why what happened
is illegal:
-
It's wrong to take
forty women who were not causing problems and
who were taking advantage of all the
rehabilitative programs available to them, and
send them to one little corner of a supermax
men's prison without any notice or due process.
-
The conditions of
confinement for the women in New Jersey State
Prison are illegal because they're worse than
conditions for the men in the very same prison -
in other words, there is sex discrimination
going on.
A great deal has happened since
December when ACLU filed the lawsuit, and both ACLU
and the Department of Corrections (the defendants),
are asking the court to do certain things. ACLU is
asking the court:
-
To make an order prohibiting
any more transfers of women until this case is
over. That order is called a "preliminary
injunction."
-
To make this case a "class
action" - that is, to rule that the ACLU
represents all of the women prisoners who get
sent to New Jersey State Prison.
-
To "sanction," that is,
punish, the Department of Corrections for the
wrongful things it has done during this case,
such as witness tampering, retaliation, and
reading legal mail that should be confidential.
The Department of Corrections is
asking the court to throw out this case. They have
filed a "motion to dismiss," which argues that the
law is on their side.
We need volunteers for
"Court Watch Duty." On Friday, April 11, 2008 at
1:30 AM. at the NJ
Criminal Court building located at 209 S. Broad St.,
Trenton, N.J., Court room A, first floor.
Note that this is a changed
time and place (same date).
Please contact
If you plan to attend:
Maretta Short NOW- NJ
President:
koolretta@netzero.net or
Barbara Foley, CRTF
Chairwoman:
bfoley29@aol.com
In Sisterhood,
Maretta J. Short
President
