Essex County Jail Annex
The austere and intimidating facade of the Essex County Jail Annex in Caldwell, NJ effectively foreshadows the horrors one would endure within.
Updated July 23, 2019 | By Matthew Christopher
Built in 1872/3, the Essex County Jail Annex (EJCA, or Escopen, as it came to be known) was constructed with locally quarried brownstone on the border dividing Caldwell and Verona, New Jersey. The imposing Italianate Victorian structure was perched atop a hill and originally included the jail itself and a farm. Over the years additions included the Men's Building, Women's Building, a Power Plant, the Shoe Shop, and the "New" Wing, constructed in 1923. Until the 1980's the jail housed between 450 to 550 inmates.
In 1983 the New Wing was closed because it had deteriorated past the point of being able to safely house inmates, reducing the capacity of the prison by 200 beds, but the population was steadily rising and by 1986 passed 1,000. Despite the fact that no repairs had been made, the New Wing was reopened and prisoners were crammed into areas that had formerly not been intended for them, such as the Shoe Shop, the basement of the Women's Building, and visitation areas. Corridor areas were filled with stretchers and cots with very little room for movement, and as a result prisoners were without day areas or space to keep personal belongings. Roughly half of the population had not yet been convicted of a crime, but were awaiting their dispositions.
Rodents and insects including ants, fleas, roaches, waterbugs, and flies infested cells, toilets, and food preparation areas. The roofing and ceilings were rotted and crumbling, and window panes fell from the frames regularly onto areas where the stretchers and cots were placed, at times injuring inmates. Toilets and sinks didn't flush or sprayed water into the cells, and bedding was placed in areas where water had pooled from radiators. Some areas only had two functioning toilets for 30 inmates. Showers were covered with black and green slime and lacked temperature regulation, so water would vary wildly between extremely hot and extremely cold. In addition, water wouldn't drain properly, flooding the showers with water that reeked of sewage; water that leaked from the ceiling caused rashes and sores on the inmates. Nearly every area of the prison dripped with filthy water, forming stalactites and rusting holes in walls and the floor. Reeking puddles formed in the food serving areas and when paired with exposed electrical wires presented the threat of electrocution. Dirt, garbage, mold, and mildew were everywhere, and the ventilation system didn't work properly so heat and humidity during the summer months were intolerable.
Bunk beds lining the corridors of the cell blocks may have been due to notoriously overcrowded conditions inside the Essex County Jail Annex.
Inmates were not medically screened when they were brought into the prison and lacked access to adequate medical care. The infirmary often wasn't properly staffed at times to even give medications to patients who needed them, including those who needed it for conditions such as asthma. Prisoners lacked access to activity areas, gyms, law libraries, courtyards. There were no consistent emergency precautions in place, and many of the guards were considered temporary or probationary and had not received training.
Unsurprisingly, the conditions did not improve the disposition of inmates, and the tension led to an atmosphere of constant fear and violence. In one instance in 2003, a 19 year old named Lamonte Gallemore was arrested and transferred to a unit housing gang members despite having no affiliation with any gangs. He was brutally beaten by the showers and died. He had only been in the prison several hours. His family attempted to file a complaint and documents related to the incident were subpoenaed, but the prison simply ignored court orders. Repeated attempts to legally pursue the matter were similarly ignored until 2009, when the county counsel ruled that too much time had passed and personnel had changed.
In 2004 EJCA was closed to consolidate it with another prison in Newark that was built on top of a landfill contaminated with lead, petroleum, and arsenic. The site remained vacant until it was torn down in 2010 despite the protests of historians and preservationists, its demise hastened after a police officer was injured chasing vandals through the complex at night. A housing complex was built on the property and in 2012 the Borough Council elected to build a monument to the prison made of bars and doors on the field where prisoners once worked. It is the only trace of the prison that remains.
Essex County Jail Annex is a chapter in my book, Abandoned America: Age of Consequences.
Buy a signed copy via this link or get it on Amazon using the link below to read more!