Inmates deaths, guard misconduct and a lockdown are among incidents that have occurred at the youth correctional facility in Clinton Township.
CLINTON TWP. -- Charges against a guard at Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility are the latest in incidents that have included inmate deaths, a lockdown and guard misconduct.
Security procedures at the facility have been revised, said state Department of Corrections spokesman Matthew Schuman.
"As part of our commitment of operating as safely and efficiently as possible, the N.J. Department of Corrections reviews all of its policies on a regular basis," Schuman said. "For that reason, it often is difficult to identify a single specific incident that may have directly led to a policy change."
State Department of Corrections officials "do not discuss issues related to specific security arrangements within our facilities," Schuman said. "I can tell you that Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility has installed a significant number of additional security cameras throughout the facility. I also can tell you that if a staff member behaves in an inappropriate manner, he or she is subject to disciplinary actions, up to and including loss of job and/or prosecution, if warranted."
In the most recent incident at Mountainview, a senior corrections officer and his stepfather face multiple charges in connection with alleged marijuana deals at the facility, as well as bribery and money laundering.
Nickoy Ellis, 31, of Lake Hiawatha was arrested on Jan. 27 and charged with official misconduct and bribery, both second-degree crimes, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana and money laundering, both third-degree crimes.
His stepfather, Kingsley Ellis, 51, of Union Township, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, second degree, and complicity to money laundering, third-degree.
Several other incidents made headlines over the last few years.
* Five inmates were sentenced Dec. 12, 2013, in the killing of a fellow inmate, Carl J. Epps, Jr., on Aug. 22, 2010. Epps had been transferred to the facility in Hunterdon on Aug. 20, officials said at the time.
Corrections Officers responded to a disturbance and found Epps on the floor in a dormitory-style "pod," unconscious. Epps was taken to Hunterdon Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Autopsy reports found that he died from trauma to his head. A joint investigation led to the arrest and indictment of five inmates in the brutal attack.
All five inmates charged eventually pleaded guilty. Smith Fonrose, 25, and Devone Kirkland, 24, each pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and were sentenced to 12 years in prison. Daryl M. Ford, 26, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Quacy April, 25, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Jameel Jackson, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
* Two inmates were stabbed during a jailhouse fight on Oct. 24, 2011. The victims, who were not identified, were hospitalized off-site and were expected to survive.
* On Nov. 30, 2011, the facility was locked down after inmates attacked guards, sending three to the hospital. The officers did not suffer life-threatening injuries in the attack, which happened around noon.
Dante Hayes, 23, and Carl Johnson, 23, were indicted in April 2013 on charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, third degree. In the Nov. 30 incident, Hayes allegedly assaulted Senior Corrections Officers Ryan Stemple and Daniela Barone. Johnson allegedly assaulted Senior Corrections Officer Kevin Calabrese. The officers were performing their duties and in uniform at the time.
* A Paterson inmate was charged with second-degree manslaughter following the death of fellow inmate Joshua Jones of Englewood in 2012. Jones, 23, suffered severe trauma in an assault on Aug. 14, 2012, and was flown to Morristown Medical Center, where he died two days later.
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Floyd Nichols, 24, had seven years added to his term after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter. Nichols was already serving five years on drug and weapons offenses, according to Department of Corrections records. Jones had been incarcerated at the prison for five months at the time of his death, after being convicted on similar charges.
* A female guard at the Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility who had a romantic relationship with a male prisoner was fired in December 2013.
Dana Register was terminated in December 2013 after an investigation revealed she had written letters with "romantic content" to an inmate at the Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility from February 2013 to September 2013, reports said. Her firing was upheld by an administrative law judge in April 2014.
Several guards also faced charges in incidents that occurred off the grounds of the facility.
* A state corrections officer who worked at Mountainview was fired Sept. 26, 2008, after a drug possession conviction for snorting cocaine the parking lot of a Bound Brook go-go bar.
Bound Brook police arrested Kevin Scott of Plainfield and another man in March 2007 after the two were found inside a car with two wax folds of cocaine outside Torpedoe's go-go bar in Bound Brook.
Scott was convicted in April 2012 on a third-degree drug possession charge. It was his second conviction in the incident; a Somerset County jury found him guilty in September 2008, but the conviction was overturned after an appellate court ruled that jury members should not have seen certain evidence.
* A former corrections officer at Mountainview was sentenced to seven years in prison in the brutal beating of his then-girlfriend.
Steven Adrianzen, 41, of Franklin in Sussex County, a former officer at Mountainview, pleaded guilty in March 2014 to aggravated assault and witness tampering in connection with the assault in Pequannock in March 2011.
Adrianzen broke the victim's nose and eye socket, which later required facial reconstruction surgery. The victim also suffered loss of memory and nerve damage, said the sentencing judge.
Sallie Graziano may be reached at sgraziano@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SallieGraziano. Find The Hunterdon County Democrat on Facebook.
