The NJ Attorney General's Office released video of alleged abuse of inmates taken by corrections officers inside Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, NJ.
NEWARK -- A former corrections officer at a South Jersey prison has received a 20-month sentence for violating inmates' civil rights.
Joshua Hand, 35, of Millville also was fined $10,000 for failing to intervene when two inmates were assaulted and physically injured at Bayside State Prison in Cumberland County, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey.
Both incidents occurred in the Leesburg prison on the same day in December 2019, according to a charging document.
It said the assaults -- in a kitchen area not covered by surveillance video -- were part of "good-bye parties" for inmates who were close to leaving Leesburg from April through December 2019.
The beatings "were carried out by inmates recruited by corrections officers and/or by the corrections officers themselves," said the document, known as an information.
In the first assault, Hand "watched and did not attempt to intervene" when an inmate was pinned to the floor and beaten by other inmates, the account said.
Hand similarly did nothing when another corrections officer "without provocation" repeatedly struck a second victim in the legs with a broomstick, it said.
It said Hand didn't report the assaults to supervisors or medical personnel "despite knowing that he was required to do so."
The first inmate didn't complain to authorities because he feared jeopardizing his departure date, the information said.
Hand pleaded guilty in February to depriving the inmates of their right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Court Judge Karen Williams sentenced him Nov. 5 in Camden federal court.