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| Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (Google Maps) |
By Salvation and Social Justice
News reports have recently emerged substantiating a history of sexual abuse and “open secrets” by New Jersey correctional employees at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. Salvation and Social Justice forcefully denounces the dishonorable sexual exploitation of our grandmothers, mothers, daughters, and sisters behind these walls and elsewhere.
We call on the New Jersey Department of Corrections to take immediate action to be in compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act. It is a moral failure that imprisoned women have been subjected to a culture of rape, intimidation, and harassment. These women have been sentenced to a prison term not inhumane and reprehensible sexual exploitation by sworn officers or any other employee.
The story of Tamar, daughter of David (2 Samuel:13), exhibits the power dynamics of a male-controlled environment where David’s daughter was dehumanized, and men saw her as property and not worthy of respect. This power dynamic bred an environment that subjugated her to the very men that should have been protecting her. The systemic sexual abuse of Black women is not without precedent. It is critical that the abusive oppressive carceral construct is dismantled at Edna Mahan immediately.
We can no longer allow the ‘open secret” of Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women to be ignored. The rape culture is detestable and must destroyed. Those who have witnessed this culture and chose to keep these secrets rather than expose them, failed to give a deserving voice to incarcerated women and should be held accountable.