Bill Text: NJ A1357 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Directs prison administrators and halfway house operators to notify local news media of inmate escapes.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee [A1357 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A1357-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
215th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2012 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman DAVID P. RIBLE
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Directs prison administrators and halfway house operators to notify local news media of inmate escapes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning the reporting of escapes from certain facilities and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. In addition to the notification otherwise required by law and regulation, the administrator of a correctional facility or operator of a facility defined in section 2 of P.L.1969, c.22 (C.30:4-91.2) shall report any inmate escape within one hour of its discovery to the local news media. The notice shall be given by electronic or other means. For the purpose of this section, local news media means wire services, television news services, radio news services, and newspapers broadcasting or circulating within the county wherein the escape occurred and the counties adjacent thereto.
2. Upon receiving notice of an inmate escape, a local law enforcement agency shall circulate that information in a timely manner to the community it serves. The information shall be circulated in a fashion and to an extent deemed appropriate by the law enforcement agency, and may include the posting of notices in post offices, senior community centers, recreational or park areas, business and commercial establishments and other locations where the public gathers, or any electronic or other means of giving notice to the residents of the community.
The provisions of this section shall apply to local law enforcement agencies serving communities within the county where the escape occurred and the counties adjacent thereto.
If a community within the affected counties has no local law enforcement agency, the information concerning the escape shall be circulated by the State Police. The information provided pursuant to this paragraph shall be circulated in a manner and to an extent deemed appropriate by the Superintendent of State Police.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Current law and regulation requires inmate escapes to be reported to local law enforcement agencies, as well as to the prosecutors of the county where the correctional facility is located and the prosecutors of the county in which the inmate was sentenced. The sentencing judge also is notified if the inmate has escaped from a medium or maximum security correctional facility. In certain instances, the local State Police Commander, the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Department of Treasury also receive notice of an escape.
This bill would require corrections administrators and operators of halfway houses and other private nonprofit community based residential treatment centers to give notice of inmate escapes to the local news media within one hour of the discovery of the escape. The news media is the most effective and efficient way to alert the public of an escape and to warn the community of any danger. For the purposes of the bill, local news media means wire services, television and radio news services and newspapers broadcasting or circulating within the county where the escape occurred and the counties adjacent to it.
The bill also directs local law enforcement agencies to communicate information relating to an inmate's escape to the community it serves. The bill does not specify how and to what extent this information is to be communicated. Local law enforcement is afforded the authority to determine what it believes to be an appropriate response. But the bill does suggest that it might be appropriate to post notices in local post offices, senior community centers, recreational or park areas, business and commercial establishments and other locations where the public gathers.
In those municipalities where there is no local police force, the State Police would be responsible for communicating information relating to inmate escapes. The method and extent of their circulating the information is to be determined by the Superintendent of State Police.
