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| NAACP: Jail in need of change |
| By nj.com |
| Published: 09/22/2003 |
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The Gloucester County's chapter of the NAACP will hold a press conference this week to address what it says are poor conditions at the county jail. Spurred by reports of unsanitary and cramped conditions in jail and a highly publicized death of a black inmate, local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People officials are calling for change. A county NAACP official confirmed the press conference; however, county NAACP communications director Andrea Alston-Brundage could not be reached for further comment Wednesday. An exact date has yet to be set. Earlier this year, county NAACP officials demanded Sheriff Gilbert Miller III resign from his post because they said he was not accountable following the death of county jail inmate Bernard King. King, a 32-year-old black man from Lindenwold, was arrested April 8 for allegedly violating a temporary restraining order. Following a confrontation with corrections officers, King later died after being found unresponsive and face down in a cell. Later that month, the county hired Stanley Nunn as the director of the Department of Corrections after freeholders took control of the jail from Miller, hoping to turn the jail's operations around. Since an article in which inmates were critical of conditions at the jail appeared in the Gloucester County Times last week, Nunn has addressed several issues exposed in the article and debunked others. Inmate Michael Shannon claimed inmates were sleeping four to a cell and forced to live in the common areas, on the floor, without blankets and pillows. Nunn said cells may contain three inmates, not four and that no one is sleeping in the common rooms. Shannon said inmates went without showering for long periods of time, while Nunn said showers are open to inmates at all times except when they are confined to their cells. Nunn said he was unaware the NAACP would hold a press conference but admitted organization officials wanted to meet with him on the King case. He declined to meet with them on the issue, saying he cannot comment on the case, which is still in progress. Nunn said new locks have been placed on the cells and shower upgrades, new inmate-monitoring systems, new gates and a paint job is scheduled for the jail. "Changes are being made," he said. |
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