Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes certain educational requirements for State inmates under the age of 21.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing educational requirements for certain inmates in State correctional 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. a. No inmate serving a sentence of incarceration in a State correctional facility who is under the age of 21 shall be eligible for classification as full minimum custody unless that inmate has a high school diploma or has a high school equivalency certificate indicating passage of the Tests of General Educational Development (GED) of the American Council on Education.
b. The Commissioner of Corrections, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education, shall establish a program of education in each State correctional facility which shall enable each inmate under the age of 21 who does not have a high school diploma to attain a level of educational achievement comparable to high school graduation and prepare each of those inmates to secure the high school equivalency certificate required by subsection a. of this section.
c. In accordance with the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), the Commissioner of Corrections, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education, shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this act.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month after enactment and shall apply to inmates under the age of 21 years who are committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections on and after that day, but the commissioner may take any anticipatory action prior to the effective date necessary to implement its provisions.
STATEMENT
This bill would require inmates in State correctional facilities who are under the age of 21 to have either a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate indicating that the inmate has passed the Tests of General Educational Development (GED) of the American Council on Education as a condition for acquiring the classification status of "full minimum custody."
"Full minimum custody" is the next to the lowest custody status in the State correctional system. Inmates classified as "full minimum custody" are assigned to work details, jobs or programs outside the main correctional facility with minimal supervisions. They also are eligible for assignment to a satellite unit or minimum security trail unit.