In March 2007, forty women were abducted.
The New Jersey Department of Corrections is made up of thirteen centers, facilities and prisons. The Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, EMCF or EMCFW, is the only women’s prison in the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey State Prison, NJSP, is a men’s maximum-security prison.
These two prisons are night-and-day different. EMCFW has programs for survivors of domestic violence, parenting skills programs, and family unity programs, which include greater opportunity for family visits and contacts. EMCFW offers free phone calls to family members. A phone call from NJSP costs $25. Before March 2007, the difference between the two prisons was clear and stark. And then night and day were one:
“In March 2007, approximately forty women, the majority of whom were classified as medium-security prisoners, had excellent disciplinary records, and/or held paraprofessional job assignments for months or years while at EMCF, were abruptly transferred to a maximum-security housing unit in NJSP. No notices, hearings, or other procedures preceded these transfers. …
“The mass transfers of women occurred on two separate occasions. On each occasion, women held at EMCF were locked in their cells without explanation. A convoy of trucks arrived and guards in full riot gear carrying batons, mace, and other weapons descended on the women’s quarters and took women from their rooms. Each woman was taken to a separate room and stripped naked while guards, including male guards, observed her and filmed her with a video camera. When the strip searches were complete, the women were handcuffed and shackled, then loaded onto a bus and taken to NJSP.
“During these chaotic and terrifying transfers, women panicked in their cells and wept hysterically. Because many of the women held at EMCF have experienced sexual and physical abuse by men prior to and in some cases during their incarceration, they were extremely frightened by the procedures employed during the transfers and the prospect of transfer to a men’s prison. Nursing and psychiatric staff had to be called to attend to the panic-stricken women, and many women were medicated or received increased dosages of medication. NJDOC has informed the women that their placement in NJSP is permanent.”
The conditions in the New Jersey State Prison were bad for men, and worse for women. The women were confined to their housing units and prohibited from moving about the prison. Their cell windows were painted over, leaving them in perpetual semi-darkness.
The women were denied psychiatric counseling and medication in their unit. If they requested psychiatric care, they were threatened with, and sometimes sent to, “Unit 1GG”, a “stabilization unit” famous for its degree of filth, danger and degradation. Women were denied access to adequate medical care. Medical examinations, such as they were, were conducted in the open area of the housing unit, in the presence of guards, including male guards.
Women were denied legal access, especially access to the prison’s library. Women were denied access to educational programs. They couldn’t get decent work, couldn’t exercise, and couldn’t take care of their personal hygiene. And throughout, women were denied any privacy.
The women found themselves in practical lockdown and almost complete isolation.
Why? What had these women done to deserve this? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Forty women were treated, dragged about, as forty sacks of nothing.
Kathleen Jones, Sylvia Flynn, Helen Ewell and Lakesha Jones had been model prisoners. Through the ACLU, these four women sued the State “on behalf of themselves and all individuals similarly situated.” They charged the State with “violations of their due process and equal protection rights, their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, and their right to privacy.” They protested the “restrictive, inhumane, and physically and psychologically damaging conditions”. Finally they noted, “The Department’s ill-considered measure is also symptomatic of its general failure to plan for the women in its custody.”
In the first week of September 2008, nine months later, the forty women were returned to the not great conditions of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. Then, for another year and a half, the women fought to make the State accountable for its actions. Last week, the women won. It was a victory “for civil rights, justice and common sense.”
What happened in New Jersey? The State now says EMCFW was overcrowded, and so it moved 40 women. What system of reason moves 40 women model prisoners into an all male supermax holding 1800 some prisoners? There were other prisons in the state, and there were other options. Model women prisoners could have been given early release. No one sought an alternative, because women prisoners counted for and as nothing.
There was no mass transfer in March of 2007. There was abduction. In the middle of the night, groups of men, armed to the teeth, faces covered, rounded up forty unarmed women. The women were stripped naked, prodded, shackled, and carted off to parts unknown, where they were then abused. What is that called? Call it terrorism.

Kathleen Jones and daughter

Sylvia Flynn
(Photo Credit: Jerry McCrea/Star-Ledger) (Photo Credit: ACLU)
Thanks for this, I’m sharing it with everyone back home.
I were a prisoner at EMCFW from 1997-2005 and i can relate to corruptions in that prison for 8 in a half years. I stayed in confinement in NJSP locked down ad-seg unit on 1ff for 5years, yeah in a cell because i were labeled as a notorious inmate, Baby Bye! I really went through a lot of stuff there during my bid. I went in when beepers came out , and it were cellphones when i came home and being in there i was not able to learn about the upgrade technology of computers, but now i am learning.Thanks to attending Essex County College in 2005 and2009 through” Wise Women Forge”an RE-Entry Ex-Offender’s program,which i were in the newspaper “The Star Ledger “November4,2009 for my progress in the programn. I would have never thought from where i have been in my life that all good would come out a very bad experience. I am the HOPE today and i take ONE DAY AT A TIME! RECOVERY is a JOURNEY and CHANGE is a PROCESS. For all my SISTER’S and BROTHER’S on lock down KEEP your head up” BIG CHOCOLATE” LOVES YOU ALL FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!XOXOXOXOXO
Im in tears reading this because I was in emcfw for two and a half years. I watched inmates being treated cruel and unfair. I’ve witnessed guards slamming inmates heads into gates purposely right after the inmates had seizures. It has to stop. Before its too late
N.J. corrections officer accused of sex abuse at women’s prison to pay inmates $75K
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/nj_corrections_officer_accused_of_sex_abuse_to_pay.html
I was locked up at the time of this event. Being emotionally disemboweled in that place was not a surprise; prison is supposed to hurt; but, there are bad ones and good ones everywhere in the world. Those women were wronged, and regardless of who they were, the treatment of and means taken were demonstrative of whom the blues were. See, bad ones and good ones live inside and outside of those cages. I also did time, a year, in the infamous Trenton State Prison. It’s alllllll ugly, Clinton, Trenton, any semblance, not to mention the mental facilities full of disrespect. This is not a viable answer, and the nature of incarceration only creates monsters and makes privateers rich. You all make me sick, still. I’ve tried to see the logic in it. But, I’m afraid that prison us waste management; we don’t have to look at the garbage, but it’s rotting or floating around the earth somewhere…it’s not going anywhere. Thanks for the launch into space, it really clarified my situation, but helped me none, and changed me grossly.
From behind bars: N.J. corrections officers accused of crimes http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/nj_corrections_officers_who_went_rouge.html
Hey all, I am working on an awareness campaign to bring awareness to the mistreat me of inmates eapieciall preganant inmates, so if any one would like to tell there story or connect please do so I would greatly appreciated. We need to act now so see change. My email is sweet_carmel_15@yahoo.com
Fifth Edna Mahan guard charged with sexual assault http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/crime/2017/08/17/fifth-edna-mahan-guard-charged-sexual-assault/577992001/
Sex abuse, contraband, cover-ups? Inside a growing criminal probe at N.J. women’s prison http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/sex_abuse_contraband_cover-ups_inside_a_growing_cr.html
N.J.’s only women’s prison faces more scrutiny over sex abuse claims http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/12/sex_abuse_claims_at_nj_womens_prison_spark_public.html
Officers at women’s prison worked together to sexually assault inmates, indictments say https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/09/officers_at_womens_prison_worked_together_to_sexua.html
Edna Mahan guards indicted on misconduct, sexual assault charges https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/crime/2018/09/14/edna-mahan-guards-indicted-brian-ambroise-ronald-coleman/1302001002/
I was there from 09-12 in the max unit while all the guards were sexualy abusing these girls. We all knew it was happening. Of course it’s not right but when it was happening and these women were getting stuff out of it then it was ok. It wasn’t until they all got caught and now they’re crying abuse. It shouldnt of happened either way but to sit here and watch how the stories have changed makes me cringe
Feds found rampant sex abuse at N.J. women’s prison. New panel will study reforms. https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/07/feds-found-rampant-sex-abuse-at-nj-womens-prison-new-panel-will-study-reforms.html
Dozens suspended at N.J. prison after officers are accused of beating women inmates https://www.nj.com/news/2021/01/dozens-suspended-at-nj-prison-after-officers-are-accused-of-beating-women-inmates.html
NJ governor orders probe of alleged attack on female inmates https://www.corrections1.com/investigations/articles/nj-governor-orders-probe-of-alleged-attack-on-female-inmates-PkXvZA9wBoPwvtBI/
3 male COs accused in violent attack at NJ women’s prison https://www.corrections1.com/investigations/articles/3-male-cos-accused-in-violent-attack-at-nj-womens-prison-NHUWrXebrZ2BYBI9/
3 Male Guards Charged in Attacks at Notorious Women’s Prison https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/nyregion/nj-prison-female-inmate-abuse.html
N.J. lawmaker pushing to impeach prison leader after 3 officers are charged with misconduct https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/02/nj-lawmaker-pushing-to-impeach-prison-leader-after-3-officers-are-charged-with-misconduct.html
Inmate at troubled N.J. women’s prison injured again after accusing officers of brutal attack https://www.nj.com/news/2021/02/inmate-at-troubled-nj-womens-prison-injured-again-after-accusing-officers-of-brutal-attack.html
NJ prison assault scandal leads to proposal for public advocate http://nj1015.com/nj-prison-assault-scandal-leads-to-proposal-for-public-advocate/
Lawmakers push for new Department of Corrections commissioner https://www.njspotlight.com/video/lawmakers-push-for-new-department-of-corrections-commissioner/
Federal monitors coming soon to NJ’s troubled women’s prison http://nj1015.com/federal-monitors-coming-soon-to-njs-troubled-womens-prison/