TRENTON, Dec. 30 — The union representing sergeants at New Jersey prisons is asking Gov. James E. McGreevey to dismiss Corrections Commissioner Devon Brown, saying he made racially charged comments in a speech about the inequitable treatment of blacks and Hispanics in the criminal justice system.þþIn a letter to the governor last week, the union, the New Jersey Law Enforcement Supervisors Association, said that the commissioner's speech at a conference on minorities in prison was ÿhighly inappropriate and racially charged,ÿ and that it would aggravate tensions between inmates and corrections officers. þþMr. Brown, who is black, said at the Nov. 8 conference at Rutgers that he was distressed by huge racial disparities in the prison population. ÿThis state and nation has lost a generation of young African-Americans and Hispanics, both male and female, to the criminal justice juggernaut.ÿþþThe union also expressed dismay over comments drawing parallels to slave-era plantations.þþÿ`There are those who with some degree of justification have proclaimed our prisons as being America's new plantations,ÿ he said, ÿfor not since slavery has our country promoted policies which have visited such enormous economic and human calamity on the black community.ÿþþA Corrections Department spokesman said the commissioner declined to comment on the union's demand, which was reported on Tuesday by The Record of Hackensack. ÿIt's a personnel issue, and we're treating it internally,ÿ said the spokesman, Chris Carden.þþMr. Brown told The Record on Monday that the union was angered by proposals that could result in cuts in prison staffing. He has supported a state commission to revisit sentencing laws, as have several legislators who have voiced concern about prison costs, which have risen to $1.1 billion from $200 million in the last 20 years. þþThe letter from the union's president, Robert A. Cardone, and first vice president, Thomas Moran, said, ÿWe are extraordinarily concerned that the State of New Jersey has implemented a policy to return violent criminals to all of our neighborhoods simply to save money.ÿþþBut Ellen Mellody, a McGreevey spokeswoman, said: ÿThe state has not adopted any such policy. The letter is inaccurate, and the governor does not support the early release of prisoners as a cost-saving measure.ÿþþMs. Mellody also said the governor supported Mr. Brown, whom he appointed in March 2002. þþMr. Cardone and Mr. Moran did not respond on Tuesday to a message requesting comment. þþIn 2001, the last year for which statistics are available, the state prison population was 63 percent black and 18 percent Hispanic. The total inmate population peaked in 1999 at 31,493 and has declined to 27,492. þþþþ
Source: NY Times
