Williams Cedar was co-lead counsel in a $20.8 Million settlement in a case involving the prison sexual abuse and physical abuse of inmates at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
The $20,835,600 in damages and attorney fees will be distributed amongst women who were directly impacted by the prison sexual abuse and sexual misconduct at the Edna Mahan facility between 2014 and the date at which the settlement agreement was signed.
Previously in April of 2020, the Department of Justice had issued a Investigation Report that found that prison sexual abuse had been a longstanding problem at the prison that the administration had failed to address. The DOJ cited multiple examples of investigations, convictions, guilty pleas, etc. that are corroborative of the allegation supporting that overriding claim. This settlement also comes less than eight months after the trial court ruled that the plaintiffs satisfied the requirements for class-action treatment. The litigation alleged at its core that that inmates at the New Jersey’s only women’s prison were subjected to a longstanding and pervasive atmosphere of prison sexual abuse that had gone unchecked for years.
Also included in the settlement is the institution of body cameras to be worn by the NJDOC staff. This step was an important step in the development of safer confinement conditions in all NJDOC facilities moving forward.
Read the full NJDOC release.