May 10, 2022

NEWARK – The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, Latino Action Network and Salvation and Social Justice (the “Social Justice Task Force Members”) today issued a dissent to a report issued by the Task Force for the Continued Transformation of Youth Justice in New Jersey (the “Youth Justice Task Force”) that calls for the construction of three new youth prisons in New Jersey.

The Social Justice Task Force Members are part of the larger Youth Justice Task Force created by an executive order signed by Governor Murphy on October 26, 2018. The task force report comes over four years after former Governor Christie’s January 8, 2018 announcement that Jamesburg and Hayes youth prisons were to be shut down. Those two prisons, in addition to JMSF, remain open today. (The Youth Justice Task Force report contains a previously filed objection raised by the Social Justice Task Members.)