A former senior corrections officer at New Jersey’s only woman’s prison is facing three years in prison after authorities say he “engaged in a sexual relationship with two different inmates.”Joel Mercado, 37, of Lyndhurst, pleaded guilty to two counts of official misconduct, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns.Mercado is one of six officers accused of sexual misconduct at the women’s prison, and some have already been convicted.Mercado, who was originally charged with official misconduct and sexual assault, admitted to having sexual intercourse with the two female inmates in the housing unit at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, in Union Township, between 2013 and 2015.Kearns said Mercado was also an academy instructor at the prison.“Part of the curriculum taught to new recruits by Joel Mercado involved New Jersey’s law which prohibits any form of sexual contact between officers and inmates as well as compliance with a federal law enacted in 2003 aimed at eliminating prison rape called the Prison Rape Elimination Act,” Kearns said in a statement.“All inmates have a right to be safe within the institutions where we as a society demand they be detained. All inmates should be free of sexual abuse regardless of their crime. The public trust is violated and everyone is betrayed when a sworn law enforcement officer violates the oath he or she has vowed to uphold.“By Taylor Tiamoyo Harris | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
English
03 Şubat 2019 - 22:09
Corrections officer convicted after admitting to having sex with inmates at women's prison
A former senior corrections officer at New Jersey’s only woman’s prison is facing three years in prison after authorities say he “engaged in a sexual relationship with two different inmates.” Joel Mercado, 37, of Lyndhurst, pleaded guilty to two counts of official misconduct, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns. Mercado is one of six officers accused of sexual misconduct at the women’s prison, and some have already been convicted.
English
03 Şubat 2019 - 22:09