Sweeney Vows to Fight Move of Sexual Predators to Cumberland County

State Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney today vowed to fight any attempt by the State to move violent sexual predators into South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton.

Once word gets around, opposition to such a move will be “aggressive, intense and committed� by local officials and concerned parents, Senator Sweeney said.

State officials say no final decision has been made, but if such a move advances, Sen. Sweeney told Corrections Commissioner George W. Hayman he would do “whatever is in my legislative and political powers to block your plan.�

Hayman told the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on Monday that South Woods is among the potential sites to shift more than 350 violent sexual predators from their current facilities in Kearny and Woodbridge Township.

On behalf of all residents of Cumberland County, Sen. Sweeney told Hayman in a letter that, “unequivocally..., we do not want these violent sexual predators dumped in our back yards.�

With three correctional facilities already, Cumberland County “already bears more than its fair share of the State’s corrections population,� Sen. Sweeney told Hayman.

George W. Hayman
Commissioner of Corrections
Whittlesey Road
PO Box 863
Trenton, N.J. 08625

Dear Commissioner Hayman,

My worst fears about the State moving violent sexual predators into Cumberland County were only heightened by your responses to my queries during your appearance Monday, April 30th, before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

In effect, you made it clear that the State prefers to pack up more than 350 sexual predators from where they are now in Kearny and Woodbridge Township and ship them down to South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton.

Your responses confirmed your belief that the process for effecting such a major move can be implemented without consulting or informing – much less warning – the people who live, work and raise their children in Cumberland County.

If your responses to my questions in any way represented what you said would be “notification to local legislators� about such a move, please allow me to dare respond on behalf of my constituents in Cumberland County by saying unequivocally that we do not want these violent sexual predators dumped in our back yards.

Clearly, Cumberland County already bears more than its fair share of the State’s corrections population with the South Woods, Bay State and Southern State facilities confining well over 25 percent of the State’s inmates.

As a matter of fundamental fairness, please remove Cumberland County from your list of possible placement areas for the ever growing number of sexual predators, both those serving prison terms and those civilly committed by judicial decrees.

My impression from your responses is that a final decision on placement could hinge solely on an administrative assessment that you hold such unilateral authority to do so.

Should my impression be accurate, I would like to pledge my commitment to do whatever is in my legislative and political powers to block your plan.

Once these furtive intentions become known in the communities I represent, I can assure you there will be aggressive, intense and committed expressions of opposition from local and county officials and concerned parents.

Your response that no final decision had been made did not ease my concerns that plans are moving ahead unabated under the cloak of secrecy.

I believe my suggested alternative of vertical expansion at existing facilities would be far less disruptive to both the confined predators and the professionals who tend to their constitutional guarantees.

Our communities throughout the South Jersey region have maintained a positive working relationship with the State correctional system, particularly through a professional labor force.

With your avowed pledge to keep local lawmakers informed of developments in this matter, I would like to request, by way of this letter, full notification whenever a placement decision is imminent, for the purposes of expressing the full extent of local opposition to placing violent sexual predators anywhere in Cumberland County.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

Stephen M. Sweeney
Senator - 3rd District