Residents, union and advocates press Essex County over Delaney Hall and jail conditions

Public comment at the Essex County Board of County Commissioners’ Oct. 28 conference meeting centered on complaints about Delaney Hall — a privately operated facility used for some Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees — and broader conditions at county correctional facilities.

"This county just settled an $8,000,000 case," said James Troisi, vice president of FOP Lodge 106 and a representative of supervisory staff at the Essex County Correctional Facility, in remarks during the meeting’s first public-comment block. Troisi said supervisors had issued warnings months before a near-fatal inmate beating, citing unsecured equipment and staffing problems. "We brought that to everybody’s attention months before it happened," he said.

Advocates who said they work with people affected by immigration enforcement urged the county to create a financial safety net for families left without a primary wage earner. "If we want to keep families healthy and housed, we need help from our local and state government," said Cynthia Galliotta of the Selma Action Immigration Committee, citing a study she said showed deportation can halve household income and increase eviction risk.

Susan Vercheck, co-chair of the immigration committee at a local organization, described visitor restrictions at Delaney Hall, including parking limitations and long waits, and called on the board to change the facility's policies so family members can visit without undue burden.

Speakers pressed the board to take administrative steps and to use its convening authority. Terry Seuss, who said he travels frequently to Newark and Essex County because of Delaney Hall, asked commissioners to meet with visitors and to increase oversight. Several speakers described high commissary prices and limited visitor amenities at the facility.

Troisi proposed a concrete change to the civilian review board: he said one seat is expressly reserved for a past or present staff member who is also a union representative and suggested allowing the FOP executive board to name that seat. "How about this for a solution? Allow the executive board of FOP 106 to name somebody to that seat," he said.

County officials and staff did not take formal action on Delaney Hall during the meeting. Commissioners offered to follow up: administration said it would inspect park appliances and return with information on other neighborhood requests; the board recorded no vote directing immediate administrative remedies for the detention facility during the session.

The meeting included repeated assertions by union representatives that internal memos and reports describing safety concerns had been submitted to administration. Troisi said union representatives will testify as needed about facility conditions in other forums. County counsel or administration did not provide a rebuttal in the public record during the meeting.

The board’s next procedural step on these issues was not set at the meeting; commissioners encouraged staff to follow up on the specific requests made by public commenters.