Four corrections officers at a women’s prison in New Jersey have been indicted for sexually abusing inmates, violating the “complete power” they had over the women, authorities said.
The officers have been indicted on a total of 26 counts in connection with alleged abuse over a two-year period at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns told reporters during a press conference Monday.
“In these cases, the victims were particularly vulnerable as inmates,” Kearns said. “The corrections officers had complete power over every aspect of their lives behind bars. We have in our society a system of punishing those who violate our laws. And when imprisonment is the punishment, it is our correction officers that must carry out the duty of ensuring the welfare, safety and security of the inmates.”
Kearns said the indictments, returned by a Hunterdon grand jury last week, named Jason Mays, 43, of Hillside, NJ; Ahnwar Dixon, 38, of East Orange, NJ; Brian Ambroise, 33, of Union, NJ; and Thomas Seguine 34, of Phillipsburg, NJ.
A fifth man, an institutional trade instructor at the prison identified as Joel Herscap, 55, of Alpha, had worked at the prison until his arrest in May. He later pleaded guilty to official misconduct for a sexual encounter with an inmate and received three years in prison, Kearns said.
State Corrections Commissioner Gary Langan insisted that the prisoners and their relatives have “every reason to trust” that they’ll be effectively and appropriately supervised while locked up.
“Violators of that trust should not and will not be taken lightly,” Langan said in a statement. “The overwhelming majority of the NJDOC staff is hardworking, fair-minded and law-abiding. However, a small number of employees can undermine of integrity of the entire criminal justice system.”
All four men have been released on bail and it’s unclear whether they’ve hired attorneys, NJ.com reports.
The head of New Jersey’s corrections officers union said he was aware of the allegations, but declined further comment to the Trentonian, citing an ongoing investigation.
The newspaper reported in October that there were roughly 80 more male workers than female employees at the prison. Prison officials insisted Monday that the apparent gender imbalance among staffers had nothing to do with the charges.
“The issue of sexual abuse is not a gender issue, but rather an abuse-of-power issue and a lack-of-professionalism issue,” Department of Corrections spokesman Matthew Schuman wrote the Trentonian on Monday in an email.
The prison — which houses 662 female inmates — employs 271 men and 191 women, from corrections officers to food service employees, according to statistics previously provided by the DOC officials to the newspaper.