The New York Times Investigation Into Crime Filled New Jersey’s Halfway Houses

Governor Chris Christie has his hands big time in the halfway house and Drug Court business unfortunately. He also just got a bill passed mandating Drug Court, where it used to be a choice. Well I guess AA and NA meetings will be expanding in New Jersey with even more criminals attending from Drug Court and people leaving halfway houses. The meetings in the halfway houses are pretty dangerous indeed.

This is incredible investigative reporting that took 10 months. Let’s hope it opens some eyes and see what ties Chris Christie and other politicians have in this very corrupt system. This is a 3 part series. Well worth the read.

Thanks Reporter Sam Dolnick and The New York Times!!!!!!!!! 

As Escapees Stream Out, a Penal Business Thrives

A company with deep ties to Gov. Chris Christie dominates New Jersey’s system of large halfway houses. There has been little state oversight, despite widespread problems, The New York Times found.

Photograph by Richard Perry/The New York Times

Video Video: Sam Dolnick, a reporter for The New York Times, describes his 10-month investigation into New Jersey’s halfway houses. Here, the Harbor halfway house.

Unlocked

As Escapees Stream Out, a Penal Business Thrives

Published: June 16, 2012

After serving more than a year behind bars in New Jersey for assaulting a former girlfriend, David Goodell was transferred in 2010 to a sprawling halfway house in Newark. One night, Mr. Goodell escaped, but no one in authority paid much notice. He headed straight for the suburbs, for another young woman who had spurned him, and he killed her, the police said.

The state sent Rafael Miranda, incarcerated on drug and weapons charges, to a similar halfway house, and he also escaped. He was finally arrested in 2010 after four months at large, when, prosecutors said, he shot a man dead on a Newark sidewalk — just three miles from his halfway house.

Valeria Parziale had 15 aliases and a history of drugs and burglary. Nine days after she slipped out of a halfway house in Trenton in 2009, Ms. Parziale, using a folding knife, nearly severed a man’s ear in a liquor store. She was arrested and charged with assault but not escape. Prosecutors say they had no idea she was a fugitive.

After decades of tough criminal justice policies, states have been grappling with crowded prisons that are straining budgets. In response to those pressures, New Jersey has become a leader in a national movement to save money by diverting inmates to a new kind of privately run halfway house.

At the heart of the system is a company with deep connections to politicians of both parties, most notably Gov. Chris Christie.

Many of these halfway houses are as big as prisons, with several hundred beds, and bear little resemblance to the neighborhood halfway houses of the past, where small groups of low-level offenders were sent to straighten up.

New Jersey officials have called these large facilities an innovative example of privatization and have promoted the approach all the way to the Obama White House.

Rest of 1st part series in 10 month investigation-

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/nyregion/in-new-jersey-halfway-houses-escapees-stream-out-as-a-penal-business-thrives.html

Part two

No Real Security

The Bo Robinson center in New Jersey is as large as a prison and is intended to help inmates re-enter society. But The New York Times found that drugs, gangs and sexual abuse are rife behind its walls.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/nyregion/at-bo-robinson-a-halfway-house-in-new-jersey-bedlam-reigns.html

Part Three-

A Volatile Mix Fuels a Murder

As financial pressures grow, officials are using vast halfway houses as dumping grounds, The New York Times found. At Delaney Hall in Newark, low-level offenders are thrown together with violent ones.

( Sounds Like Your Typical AA and NA Meetings mixing violent felons with low level offenders along with minors, children and teenagers)

Goodell

Prized Photo

Derek West Harris liked to show off this image of him with Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark. Mr. Harris was killed in a robbery at Delaney Hall, two days after he was sent there for minor offenses.

Courtesy the Harris Family

Goodell

Killed for $3

Giancarlo Bonilla, left, was convicted of murder in Mr. Harris’s killing and sentenced to life in prison. Ibn Goodman, center, and Luis Gonzalez, right, pleaded guilty to lesser charges in the case.

Essex County Prosecutor’s Office

2 thoughts on “The New York Times Investigation Into Crime Filled New Jersey’s Halfway Houses

  1. There are 3 VERY INFORMATIVE and separate articles relating to the NEW YORK TIMES 10 MONTH INVESTIGATION ! CHECK OUT ALL 3 !

    THE REVOLVING DOOR POLICY that turns out dangerously unstable, repeat offender felons into large unsupervised, non-accountable ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS and NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS meetings is one that is growing at an alarming rate around the world. When you realize how many times some of these people have been arrested and for what, just to be turned out over and over again to mass converge at these unsupervised meetings you will likely be shocked!

    SOME HAVE BEEN ARRESTED 10, 20, 30 TIMES AND FOR A LOT MORE THEN USING DRUGS OR ALCOHOL ! ! MANY ARE EXTREMELY MENTALLY UNSTABLE AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS INDIVIDUALS ! !

    DON’T BE FOOLED BY THOSE WHO WOULD DOWNPLAY THE RISK INVOLVED WITH THESE UNSUPERVISED, ANONYMOUS GROUPS ! !

    IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED THAT MEMBERS OF THESE GROUPS HAVE COMMITTED MAJOR CRIMES AND ABUSES AGAINST VULNERABLE PEOPLE, IN AND AROUND MEETINGS, ONLY TO HAVE THESE CRIMES COVERED UP BY GROUP SPONSORS AND OFTEN EVEN POLICE ! !

    THERE ARE MANY ARTICLES DOCUMENTING SUCH CASES IN THE ARCHIVES OF THIS COMMUNITY AWARENESS WEBSITE !

    INFORM YOURSELF WITH THE FACTS AND….. BEWARE ! ! !

  2. NJ panel approves mandatory drug treatment bill

    Originally published: June 18, 2012 3:34 AM
    Updated: June 18, 2012 7:33 PM
    By The Associated Press ANDREW DUFFELMEYER ()

    TRENTON, N.J. – (AP) — A measure that would change the way New Jersey’s criminal justice system deals with nonviolent drug offenders moved out of committee Monday and now heads to the Assembly.

    The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved on a 9-0 vote a measure mandating that nonviolent, drug-dependent offenders who would benefit from treatment be sentenced to the state’s drug court program rather than prison.

    It phases in the statewide program over a five-year period, beginning with at least three counties in the first year. Participation in drug court is currently voluntary.

    Gov. Chris Christie has also proposed mandatory drug court statewide for people who qualify. He has said it’s time to empty prisons of inmates who are drug-dependent but not criminals.

    http://www.newsday.com/news/health/nj-panel-approves-mandatory-drug-treatment-bill-1.3788269

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