Lawmakers Consider Privatizing the Monmouth County Jail
A Monmouth County Board of Freeholders created a panel this past week to study whether the Monmouth County Jail, located in Freehold, New Jersey, down the street from the Monmouth County Superior Court, should be privatized. Currently, the 1,328-bed facility is run by the State and is currently paid for by the county tax levy.
According to the Asbury Park Press article entitled "Panel formed to study privatizing county jail", there are currently no county jail systems in New Jersey run by private companies but Camden County is also considering privatizing their facility. According to the article, public employee union contracts for the 300 corrections officers are no longer sustainable. The Monmouth County Jail's payroll for last year was $36.5 million.
It appears that the corrections officers are not happy about this possibility of privatization. I can't blame them. From my experience, the Monmouth County Jail is run very well and is a highly functioning facility. I am at the jail on a weekly basis meeting with clients and I have never experienced any issues or problems with the jail. As you might expect, that is not always the case when it comes to jails. As a result, I think the jail should remain a publicly funded and run facility.
