It’s an old place. Cold. Honestly, if you drove past the rolling hills of Union Township in Hunterdon County, you’d probably think the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility looked more like a decaying boarding school than a site of national scandal. But for the women inside, those 100-plus-year-old walls have been anything but quaint.
Most people know the name because of the headlines. You’ve seen them: "State of Emergency," "Violent Extractions," "Decades of Abuse." It’s a heavy legacy for a place named after a woman who was actually a pioneer. Edna Mahan—pronounced "Mann," by the way—was one of the first female prison superintendents in the U.S. back in the 1920s. She wanted "Clinton Farms" (as it was called then) to be a place of reform. No bars on the windows. No fences.
That dream died a long time ago.
Today, the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility is technically in its final act. After years of lawsuits and a federal monitor breathing down the state’s neck, New Jersey has finally broken ground on its replacement. But how did it get this bad? And what actually happens when you try to close a "shameful symbol" that’s been standing since 1913?
The Breaking Point: What Really Happened in 2021
For years, rumors about Edna Mahan were like an open secret in New Jersey politics. Everyone knew the infrastructure was crumbling. Everyone knew about the Department of Justice (DOJ) report from 2020 that basically said sexual abuse was "rampant" and "systemic."
But the real explosion happened in the early hours of January 12, 2021.
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A group of officers in riot gear conducted what they called "cell extractions" in the Restorative Housing Unit. It sounds clinical. It wasn't. It was a midnight raid. Inmates were reportedly punched, kicked, and pepper-sprayed. One woman ended up with a concussion; another had her skull broken around her eye.
The fallout was instant.
Governor Phil Murphy didn't just fire people; he announced he was closing the whole damn thing. That’s a massive deal. You don’t just "close" the state’s only women’s prison overnight. Where do the hundreds of women go?
A Slow-Motion Evacuation
So, is it closed yet? Not quite.
Basically, the state is doing a phased exit. They’ve already moved the minimum-security women to a "satellite" campus a few miles away at the old William H. Fauver Youth Correctional Facility. It’s a bit of a band-aid fix while the big project happens down in Burlington County.
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Current Status as of 2026:
- Maximum Security: Still at the old Hunterdon County site. The satellite campus isn't built for high-level security, so those women are stuck in the aging main building for now.
- The New Build: Ground was officially broken in late 2025 on a $312 million facility in Chesterfield.
- The Staffing Mess: This is the part people don't talk about. Recruiting guards to a "lame duck" prison is nearly impossible. Who wants to start a career at a place that’s literally being demolished?
The $21 Million Bill
Taxpayers have been footing a massive bill for the failures at Edna Mahan. Back in 2021, the state reached a global settlement—over $20 million—to resolve dozens of lawsuits from women who were victims of sexual abuse and harassment dating back to 2014.
Think about that. $21 million just for the lawsuits. Then you add the $300 million-plus for the new prison. It’s a staggering amount of money, but as Commissioner Victoria Kuhn has pointed out, keeping the old site open was actually more expensive. They estimated it would take $166 million just to keep the old pipes from bursting and the roofs from falling in.
The Justice Gap
Here’s the part that really rubs people the wrong way: the criminal cases.
Out of the 14 officers and staff indicted for that 2021 raid, a judge recently dismissed the charges with prejudice. Why? Basically, the court blamed "prosecutorial mismanagement" and delays. It’s a bitter pill for the victims. While the state is building a shiny new "trauma-informed" campus in Burlington County, many feel the actual people responsible for the "shameful symbol" got off on a technicality.
It highlights a weird tension in the NJ Department of Corrections right now. You have this push for "normative" environments—prisons that look more like college campuses—but you're still dealing with a culture that was allowed to rot for decades.
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What the New Prison Actually Looks Like
The replacement in Chesterfield (slated to fully open in 2028) is being designed by Skanska and HOK. It’s not just a prison with better locks.
It’s 420 beds on a 33-acre campus.
No more "extractions" in the dark.
The design is "campus-style," meaning lots of light, vocational training spaces, and even a "Design Studio" fashion program through the Pratt Institute. The goal is to make the environment less like a dungeon and more like a place where someone can actually learn how to live a normal life again.
How to Navigate the Transition
If you have a loved one at Edna Mahan or are tracking the legal developments, here is what you need to keep on your radar:
- Monitor the Move: The NJDOC releases periodic updates on the relocation of residents. Minimum-security transfers are mostly complete, but medium and maximum transfers won't happen until 2027 or 2028.
- Check the Monitor’s Reports: Because of the DOJ intervention, there is a federal monitor (Jane S. Kim) who publishes public reports on conditions. These are the most honest looks at what’s actually happening inside.
- Legal Compensation: While the major 2021 settlement deadlines have passed, individuals still experiencing issues have different avenues through the Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson.
- Follow the Burlington Site: The Chesterfield project is the bellwether. If that construction gets delayed, the women stay in the crumbling Hunterdon site longer. Simple as that.
New Jersey is trying to do something rare: admit a total failure and build something fundamentally different from the ground up. It’s expensive, it’s controversial, and for many, it’s coming twenty years too late. But the era of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility as we knew it is officially over.
The next few years will determine if the "Mahan legacy" can finally return to being about reform instead of trauma.
Next Steps for Research:
- Check the NJDOC official website for the latest population movement schedules.
- Review the most recent Federal Monitor Reports for Edna Mahan to see if safety benchmarks are being met during the transition.
- Track the New Jersey Attorney General's office for updates on the appeals regarding the dismissed officer indictments.