Piscataway Prison Guard Charged With Assault At Edna Mahan

PISCATAWAY, NJ — A prison guard who lives in East Piscataway is among four new correctional officers charged with seriously injuring a female inmate at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, to the point where her eye socket bone was broken.

The New Jersey Attorney General is in the midst of an ongoing investigation into the alleged abuse at the women's prison, and a total of eight corrections officers now have been charged. More arrests may be coming.

The East Piscataway man is Courey James, 31, and he is employed as a senior correctional police officer. He was charged Thursday with second-degree official misconduct and second-degree aggravated assault.

The alleged abuse occurred in the early morning of Jan. 12, 2021: The Attorney General said while officers were attempting to get them out of their cells, female inmates were pepper sprayed, hit up to 28 times in the face by correctional officers (despite the fact that one inmate had her arms up, trying to protect herself) and that one female inmate had her eye socket broken. Another woman was punched by officers while she was handcuffed, said the AG.

“Edna Mahan has a long, ugly history— one that has justifiably attracted scrutiny from county, state, and federal investigators,” said Attorney General Gurbir Grewal. “That’s why we must do more than simply figure out what went wrong on January 11. I promise to hold everyone accountable who played a role in this horrific incident, at any level of the prison’s hierarchy."

The AG is specifically looking at what happened between 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 and 1:15 a.m. on Jan. 12, when officers at the women's prison performed a serious of forced cell extractions of 21 inmates total. Read More: 3 Officers Charged After Women Inmates Beaten At NJ Prison; 4th Officer Charged After Beating Of Women Inmates At NJ Prison

The state prosecutor says James, along with four other guards that night, "purposely or knowingly attempted to cause serious bodily injury to an inmate ... by using force beyond what was objectively reasonable and necessary."

At approximately 1:13 a.m. on Jan. 12, a five-person suited team comprised of correction officers performed a cell extraction for a female prisoner identified only as "Victim 1."

"During the cell extraction, the woman was compliant and placed in handcuffs seconds before the extraction team entered the cell," said the Attorney General.

Officer James was the first officer into the cell and had a direct view of Victim 1 being handcuffed. Victim 1 begged officers not to harm her.

"However, rather than permit Victim 1 to leave the cell voluntarily, the extraction team forcibly entered her cell and Victim 1 could be heard crying in pain as she was struck multiple times by the corrections officers, resulting in a fractured orbital bone (her eye socket)," said the Attorney General.

"James aided and abetted or failed to prevent this unauthorized use of force despite his legal duty to prevent it. James also failed to report the unauthorized use of force against Victim 1 despite his legal duty to do so," read the complaint.

All of the officers are facing five to 10 years in prison.

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