“As the Supreme Court has held, sexual abuse is not part of any person’s punishment,” the department said in its report. “Our society requires prisoners to give up their liberty, but that surrender does not encompass the basic right to be free from severe unwanted sexual contact.”

At least 16 women said they were beaten or sexually abused between 2008 and 2010 by a single officer, according to the report. He never faced criminal charges, but he did settle a lawsuit with six former prisoners for $75,000. In 2010 and 2011, three corrections officers were fired after several women accused them of abuse.

The Justice Department’s investigation began in April 2018, after New Jersey Advance Media published a detailed article about the culture of rampant sexual violence against inmates at the prison. Even after officers were informed that the Justice Department was investigating the prison, sexual assault and coercion continued largely unabated, federal investigators found.

Between October 2016 and April 2019 — a full year after the prison had been under investigation — seven correction officers and one civilian employee were arrested, indicted, convicted or pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges, including senior officers. The Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office is still pursuing sexual assault cases related to Edna Mahan.

Investigators reviewing the files of state corrections officials found scores of substantiated instances dating back years when guards preyed on inmates “for sexual gratification.” Inmates were forced to perform sex acts on guards or with other prisoners.

In one case, the guards held “viewing parties” of a mentally ill inmate who was on suicide watch. They coerced her to dance naked for them.

Staff members and guards regularly referred to inmates in vulgar, homophobic and demeaning terms, the department found. They also regularly commented on the physical appearance and perceived sexual inclinations of the inmates.