Forced to have sex in exchange for toilet paper: Ex-inmates detail abuse by guards in N.J. women’s prison

There were stacks of toilet paper in the store room at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County. But when inmate Marianne Brown asked a guard for a roll, he fired back a question of his own.

“I was told, ‘What are you going to do for me?’” recalled Brown, who was serving a 21-year sentence for kidnapping.

Brown was confused, but quickly realized what the corrections officer was suggesting.

“Then, it hit me. You know what it meant. Are you going to give them oral sex?‘' Brown said.

Over the years, she said she saw too many abuses at the women’s prison to count, including male and female officers who sexually assaulted inmates, groped prisoners and demanded sexual favors for access to essential items, including sanitary pads, and forbidden treats, like bubble gum.

She filed grievances against corrections officers, only to see those reports “ripped up in front of your face,” said Brown, who was released in November after completing her sentence. “We didn’t pursue a lot of things.”

Brown was one of six former inmates from the women’s prison who testified Wednesday at a public forum of the Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny in New Jersey Politics. The hearing, held via an online video call, was the fourth held by the group since it was founded in January by Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) to hear the experiences of women who have faced sexual harassment and misconduct in state and local politics and government.

The former inmates shared emotional accounts of alleged sexual abuse and corruption in Edna Mahan, the state’s only women’s prison.

Some of the women testified they were sexually assaulted and harassed by corrections officers who came into their cells or rooms in the prison’s minimum-security cottages regularly with no oversight. They alleged prison cameras were pointed at walls and ceilings so abuse would not be seen.

Alyssa Feldman said she was sexually assaulted by a corrections officer who had access to the cottage where she was assigned whenever he wanted.

“He was king of that cottage,” she said.

Feldman, who was serving a short sentence, said the officer threatened to delay her parole if she did not do as she was told.

“I was at Edna for six months, but it was enough to learn the way things operate, the way things are handled there,” Feldman said. “It was so open… so much corruption.”

Others testified they were groped during strip searches and forced to sit naked in holding cells while guards stared. Those who filed complaints said they were placed in solitary confinement or put in cells alone with minimal clothing on suicide watch while their personal items were damaged or destroyed.

“We were assaulted, physically, mentally, sexually,” said Melissa Deandino, a former inmate released three years ago.

Deandino said her years after prison have been hard and she continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress, “paranoia” and a fear of men. She is now homeless.

“If it takes every ounce of my being to show everybody how messed up that place was, I will do it,” Deandino said through tears. “Something needs to change because it can’t keep on going like this.”

Edna Mahan Correctional Facility has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. A series of NJ Advance Media reports have detailed the harrowing conditions in the prison, including sexual, emotional and physical abuse of the female prisoners.

Corrections officers have been arrested, indicted and convicted. Inmates say that has slowed, but not stopped, the abuse.

A scathing report from the U.S. Justice Department released earlier this year found sexual abuse has been rampant in the prison for decades and efforts to fix the problems have largely failed.

The federal report gave state authorities until June to address the issues or face a potential federal civil rights lawsuit, but it’s unclear whether the state met that deadline. Asked Wednesday, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

Officials in Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration did not testify at a Senate Law and Public Safety Committee hearing on the issue in May. In an interview earlier this year, state Corrections Commissioner Marcus Hicks told NJ Advance Media many of the problems at Edna Mahan were “inherited” from the previous administration.

“We don’t believe this is just something that is being drummed up by the media,” Hicks said. “You’ve never heard me or the governor say that. We have taken this very seriously and we continue to do so.”

Several of former inmates who testified Wednesday before the Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny are part of lawsuits filed against the prison and the state. Some of the women were sharing their names and stories publicly for the first time at the hearing, said Oliver Barry, their attorney.

“It’s apparent that the Department of Corrections is not recognizing or engaging in this problems with us,” Barry told the workgroup.

Lesly Devereaux, a former top state commerce commission official who served six months for corruption a decade ago, testified she didn’t know the other women who shared their stories of abuse at Edna Mahan, but they were her “sisters.”

“They are telling the truth,” said Devereaux, now an attorney and minister. “There are things that happened in the place that shouldn’t happen just because you made a mistake.”

She said guards even busted up her Bible study group at the prison, saying it wasn’t necessary because all the women would end up back in prison eventually.

“I am hoping that what comes out of this is there are changes that are made, in terms of legislation, (in) how women and people who are incarcerated are treated,” Devereaux testified.

The members of the all-female Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny , which include Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver and more than a dozen top lobbyists, state officials and activists, are expected to offer recommendations about policy changes once they finish hearing testimony.

Weinberg founded the workgroup in response to a NJ Advance Media report on widespread sexual harassment in local and state politics. The story, which ran Dec. 29, found sexual misconduct was widespread in New Jersey politics, but few women reported harassment or assault to authorities because they feared it would jeopardize their careers.

In addition to the four public hearings, the Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny in New Jersey Politics has held several private hearings where women have testified about their experiences out of the public view.

The women who previously testified included Katie Brennan, a state official who recently settled a $1 million lawsuit against the state and Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign over how her rape complaint was handled. Tiffany Kaszuba, a former Democratic candidate for Congress, also testified in May about dropping out of her race last year after she alleged she was stalked and harassed by a former member of the Monmouth County Democrats’ executive committee.

The group is expected to hold another hearing later this summer where Brennan is scheduled to testify in depth about changes to state policies to help prevent sexual harassment and abuse. Other women are also expected to testify in private before the workgroup about their experiences before the workgroup releases its final report, Weinberg said.