County jail plan worth $21M a year, unions will fight it

By Kevin Shea

2/16/2016

TRENTON — Mercer County would pay Hudson County over $21 million per year over the next two years to house county jail inmates as part of agreement set to start next month.

If the Mercer County freeholder board approves the plan at their Feb. 23 meeting, Mercer could start sending 150 inmates per week to Hudson County starting March 1 and paying $97 per inmate per day.

Sixty days after signing the agreement, Mercer would pay Hudson for a minimum of 600 inmates per day, even if the number of Mercer inmates in Hudson is less than 600, according to the agreement.

For a full year, the 600 inmate minimum would cost $21.2 million.

In year two of the agreement, the daily price per inmate increases to $99 per day, or about $21.6 million per year.

Hudson County freeholders approved the agreement last week, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes' office said, the same night Hughes introduced it to the Mercer freeholders.

Hughes has said the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell Township is outdated and building a new jail would be too expensive – about $500 million – and Hudson County can offer inmates a greater range of medical services.

Layoffs at the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell Township are planned.

The unions who represent corrections officers say they are concerned about Hughes' haste in pushing for the plan as much as they are about possible job losses.

Calling it a "colossal" move that could have devastating effect on hundreds of Mercer County families, as well as contractors who regularly work at the jail, union presidents and their lawyers say Hughes has some more explaining to do.

"This seems to have been done without any study or analysis," said David Beckett, a labor attorney working with the corrections officers unions, locals of the Policemen's Benevolent Association.

"We don't get the math," Beckett said.

The unions totally oppose the plan and are prepared to do anything to stop it, Beckett said.

Brian Mitchell and Ray Peterson, presidents of the two corrections officer locals, say the county has pumped millions into the correction center in the past few years, from upgrades to bathrooms, kitchen areas and a new surveillance camera system.

They also say inmate overcrowding, a problem in years past, has not been an issue for four or five years now.

And the array of medical and mental services Hughes has been touting Hudson County offering their inmates – and which Mercer inmates will benefit from - appears exaggerated.

The same contracted company that offers medical services at the Mercer jail has the contract at Hudson too, the presidents say.

Also mentioned by Hughes was that Hudson could better serve an inmate with kidney dialysis, a situation Mitchell and Peterson say happens maybe twice a year.

"It doesn't make sense," Mitchell said.

And then there's the transportation issue, the presidents say. They question Hughes's assurances that Mercer County officers will make daily trips to drop off inmates in Hudson County and bring back ones that are being released or have court dates.

Hughes provided the Mercer/Hudson agreement to the media. It lays out a multitude of logistics.

For example, Mercer County officers will transport inmates to and from Hudson County, but if Mercer is unable to do so, Hudson – with proper notification – will transport Mercer inmates at the rate of $50 per hour.

Hudson will also get the rate if they have to take a Mercer inmate to a medical appointment in Hudson County. The agreement also calls for Hudson officers to ensure no Hudson inmates are transported with Mercer inmates.

Also, Mercer County will pay for any damage a Mercer inmate causes to the Hudson County correctional facilities over $300, which is not otherwise covered by insurance, the agreement says.

Mitchell and Peterson say they have not seen the agreement and they have not heard a solid transportation plan that could lay out how officers will plan round trips that approach 200 miles, which cause wear and tear on vehicles and increases liability.

"There's a lot he's not disclosing," Beckett, the union lawyer, said of Hughes. "The cost savings would be neutral at best, as far as we can tell."

What the unions want more, though, is for the Mercer County freeholders to "dig into" the plan and not rush into the deal in the next week. "We want them to really look into this," Peterson said.

Mitchell and Peterson say the officers and staff have been on edge since the news last week that Hughes wants to move forward with the jail plan. "We're doing what we can to keep it together here," Peterson said.

Currently, the Mercer jail employs about 233 corrections officers and 49 civilian staffers. The Mercer jail's population hovers around 700 inmates daily.

Hughes has said the Mercer jail facility would remain an intake and processing center and employ about 80 staffers.

A spokesman for Hudson County said that county's corrections department plans to make room for Mercer inmates by ending their acceptance of inmates detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.