The
New Jersey State Prison (
NJSP), formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state prison in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
operated by the
New Jersey Department of CorrectionsThe New Jersey Department of Corrections is responsible for operations and management of prison facilities in the U.S. state of New Jersey...
. Located in
TrentonTrenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the City of Trenton had a population of 82,804....
,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
, it accommodated over 1,900 prisoners as of January, 2005.
NJSP operates two security units and provides a high level of custodial supervision and control. Professional treatment services, such as education and social work, is a priority at the facility.
The
New Jersey State Prison (
NJSP), formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state prison in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
operated by the
New Jersey Department of CorrectionsThe New Jersey Department of Corrections is responsible for operations and management of prison facilities in the U.S. state of New Jersey...
. Located in
TrentonTrenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the City of Trenton had a population of 82,804....
,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
, it accommodated over 1,900 prisoners as of January, 2005.
NJSP operates two security units and provides a high level of custodial supervision and control. Professional treatment services, such as education and social work, is a priority at the facility. The Bureau of State Use Industries operates the bedding and clothing shops located in the facility.
NJSP also housed New Jersey's
Death RowDeath row is a term that refers to the section of a prison that houses individuals awaiting execution. It is also used to refer to the state of awaiting execution, even in places where a special section of a prison does not exist ....
population, until the state banned
capital punishmentCapital punishment or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences....
in 2007. Its inmates include John Martini, who was condemned for the kidnapping and murder of a Bergen County businessman, and
Jesse TimmendequasJesse K. Timmendequas is a convicted murderer who on July 29, 1994 raped and murdered his neighbor, seven-year-old Megan Kanka, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey...
, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 7-year-old
Megan KankaMegan Kanka was a 7-year-old girl who was murdered.For the law created in response to her death, see Megan's Law.For information about her death, see Jesse Timmendequas, the man convicted of her murder....
. This crime inspired the passing of
Megan's LawMegan's Law is an informal name for laws in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Individual states decide what information will be made available and how it should be disseminated...
, which requires communities to be notified when a convicted sex offender moves into their area. Many states have subsequently adopted similar measures.
History
In 1952, a series of violent revolts by prisoners occurred in the State Prison in March, April and October, but they were all successfully quelled after lengthy showdowns between prisoners and officers.
Notable prisoners
- Richard Kuklinski
Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski was a convicted murderer and notorious contract killer who was of Polish and Irish ancestry. He worked for several Italian-American crime families, and claimed to have murdered over 200 men over a career that lasted 30 years; he killed his first victim at age 13...
(1935-2006), hit man known as "The Iceman" who was connected to the Gambino crime familyThe Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families", or borgata, that control organized crime activity in New York City. It is part a United States-wide criminal network known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
- Peter Kudzinowski
Peter Kudzinowski was a Polish-born American serial killer who committed his crimes in New Jersey.-Murders:...
(1903–1929), sentenced to death for murdering children
- Jesse Timmendequas
Jesse K. Timmendequas is a convicted murderer who on July 29, 1994 raped and murdered his neighbor, seven-year-old Megan Kanka, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey...
, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan KankaMegan Kanka was a 7-year-old girl who was murdered.For the law created in response to her death, see Megan's Law.For information about her death, see Jesse Timmendequas, the man convicted of her murder....
, which led to the passage of Megan's LawMegan's Law is an informal name for laws in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Individual states decide what information will be made available and how it should be disseminated...
.
- Joseph Vincent Moriarty
Joseph Vincent Moriarty also known as Newsboy Moriarty, was a local Irish American mobster in Hudson County, New Jersey who controlled the numbers game.-Early years:...
(1910?-1979), numbers racketteer
- Ocey Snead
Oceana Wardlaw Martin Snead aka Ocey Snead, was drugged and drowned in East Orange, New Jersey by her own family to collect $32,000 in insurance money.-Birth and Family:...
's killer
- Bruno Hauptmann
Bruno Richard Hauptmann was a German carpenter sentenced to death and executed for the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of famous pilots Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh...
, for the infamous kidnapping of Charles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor and explorer.On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh, then a 25-year old U.S...
`s toddler son.
- Charles Cullen
Charles Cullen is a former nurse and the most prolific serial killer in New Jersey history. Cullen told authorities in December 2003 that he had murdered as many as 45 patients during the 16 years he worked at 10 hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.- Early life :Cullen was born in West...
, New Jersey's most prolific serial killer. Admitted to killing at least 35 people while working as a nurse in numerous New Jersey and Pennsylvania hospitals.
- Robert O. Marshall
Robert O. Marshall is a former Toms River, New Jersey, businessman who in 1984 was charged with the contract killing of his wife, Maria....
, Originally sentenced to death for hiring a hit-man from LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
to kill his wife, his sentence was commuted to life in prison
- Richard Fran Biegenwald a serial killer who killed at least nine and is suspected in at least two other murders. Operated in Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 615,301, which had grown to 642,030 as of the Bureau's 2007 estimate. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is...
in the early 1980's
- John Martini
- Introduction :The Fort Lee Police Department was originally formed by ordinance on August 9, 1904. During this time the council appointed six marshalls. However the department was not formally established until October 5, 1927. During this time another ordinance was enacted to equip, organized...
(1930-present), kidnapper and murderer of Bergen County businessman Irving Flax in 1989. Martini and accomplice Therese Afdahl picked up the ransom money, murdered Irving Flax and were able to give the FBI the slip. Martini and Afdahl were arrested several days later by Detectives of the Fort Lee Police Department- Introduction :The Fort Lee Police Department was originally formed by ordinance on August 9, 1904. During this time the council appointed six marshalls. However the department was not formally established until October 5, 1927. During this time another ordinance was enacted to equip, organized...
who recognized both Martini and Afdahl from suspect descriptions provided by the FBI.
Rubin CarterRubin "Hurricane" Carter is a former American middleweight boxer, who competed from 1961 through 1966. Carter was convicted and released after serving twenty years of three life sentences for three murders which occurred in June 1966 in his hometown Paterson, New Jersey...
Edgar SmithEdgar Smith is an American who was once on Death Row for the murder of fifteen-year-old honor student and cheer leader Victoria Ann Zielinski; though his sentence was reduced through appeal...
External links