The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders shares the public’s concern that salaries and overtime at the Monmouth County jail are higher than we would like to see. Playing the blame game does not help the situation.
Our corrections officers have a very difficult job working around the clock in an unpleasant environment. It is unfair to hold their jobs over their heads again this year.
Rather than allow this issue to become fodder for political gain, I have asked that a special “blue ribbon” panel be created to examine current and future costs associated with the operation of the jail. This panel will also pinpoint areas where savings can be achieved. I expect this will be accomplished in an objective manner.
At our last meeting, the board voted along party lines to defeat resolution that would have taken oversight of the jail away from the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and placed it under the freeholders. Passage of that resolution was needed in order to privatize the jail.
The jail is a well-run institution headed by professionals in the field. I don’t see where moving it under the freeholder board would be an improvement. Currently, none of the state’s county jails are privatized, although Camden County has expressed an interest in doing so.
The freeholder board funds the operation of the jail and, as such, exerts a considerable amount of influence over its finances. The major cost associated with the jail is salaries and overtime. These items are subject to negotiation and will have to be dealt with at the bargaining table.
The freeholders should not be taking any steps toward privatization without a proper study. Monmouth County acting Sheriff Shaun Golden has endorsed such a study, as have the corrections officers themselves. It is the right thing to do for all concerned.
The resolution offered for consideration was not about financial oversight; it was motivated by politics. Golden may very well be the Republican candidate for sheriff this year, and the resolution was an attempt by his political opponents to suggest that the jail was not being managed properly.
Democrats did the same thing last year when New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, our former Monmouth County sheriff, was running for statewide election. Politicizing the issue will not solve the problem. Doing so shows little regard for the employees and their families who are left to wonder if their jobs will be taken away.
The Monmouth County jail was established in 1683 when the colonial government passed an act calling for a jail to be built in Monmouth County.
The county sheriff has served as administrator of the jail since that time. This year, Monmouth County residents will elect our 68th county sheriff.
The evolution of the sheriff’s role can be viewed through the history of the county jail. An old blockhouse in Middletown was used as the jail until Monmouth County broke ground in 1684 for its new jail. In 1715, the next Monmouth County jail was built in Freehold.
By 1966, overcrowding in that 251- year-old facility forced inmates to be moved to an annex on Manalapan Avenue in Freehold. The expanding prison population led to an even larger jail to be built in 1969 on Waterworks Road in Freehold Township, the present site of the county jail.
The jail was renovated in 1990. The Monmouth County Correctional Institution, as it is known today, is a 1,328- bed maximum security, state-of-the-art, direct supervision detention facility.
One of the primary functions of the Board of Freeholders is to provide for the safety of its residents. The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office stands as a testament to public safety, community outreach and a source of the latest law enforcement training and technology.
The sheriff’s office is comprised of a law enforcement division, corrections division and communication dispatch center. It is the first of 3,088 agencies in the nation to earn simultaneous accreditation in law enforcement, corrections, correctional health care and, most recently, the 911 emergency dispatch center.
The Monmouth County sheriff is an important part of the county’s history, spanning more than three centuries. The role of the sheriff comes from a longstanding tradition, developed over time into a variety of functions of today’s modern law enforcement chief executive.
Contract negotiations with corrections officers are under way. I can assure you we will be looking for a contract that places tighter controls on costs associated with the jail operation and one that is more palatable to Monmouth County taxpayers.
The salaries must be reined in. In the meantime, there is no one better suited to oversee the jail operation than the county sheriff.
Lillian G. Burry is the director of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.