A former senior corrections officer at New Jersey’s only woman’s prison is facing three years in prison after authorities say he “engaged in a sexual relationship with two different inmates.”

Joel Mercado, 37, of Lyndhurst, pleaded guilty to two counts of official misconduct, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns.

Joel Mercado, 37, of Lyndhurst

Mercado is one of six officers accused of sexual misconduct at the women’s prison, and some have already been convicted.

Mercado, who was originally charged with official misconduct and sexual assault, admitted to having sexual intercourse with the two female inmates in the housing unit at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, in Union Township, between 2013 and 2015.

Kearns said Mercado was also an academy instructor at the prison.

“Part of the curriculum taught to new recruits by Joel Mercado involved New Jersey’s law which prohibits any form of sexual contact between officers and inmates as well as compliance with a federal law enacted in 2003 aimed at eliminating prison rape called the Prison Rape Elimination Act,” Kearns said in a statement.

“All inmates have a right to be safe within the institutions where we as a society demand they be detained. All inmates should be free of sexual abuse regardless of their crime. The public trust is violated and everyone is betrayed when a sworn law enforcement officer violates the oath he or she has vowed to uphold.“

Four other officers, former Senior Corrections Officers Thomas Seguine, Jason Mays, Ahnwar Dixon, Brian Ambroise and Ronald Coleman and Trade Instructor Joel Herscap are the other officers who have faced similar allegations, according to prosecutors.

Herscap and Seguine were both sentenced to three years in prison in 2017.

Mays was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted at trial of official misconduct, sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and engaging in a pattern of official misconduct.

Dixon is awaiting his sentence after pleading guilty to official misconduct.

Officers Brian Ambroise, Thomas Sequine, Anwhar Dixon, Jason Mays, Joel Mercado and Ronald Coleman. At right, civilian staff member Joel Herscap.

Ambroise was acquitted at trial of official misconduct and sexual assault allegations involving one victim, but he is currently waiting for another trial where he and Coleman are co-defendants.

Both Ambroise and Coleman are being charged with conspiracy to commit sexual assault and official misconduct.

In a separate case, Coleman is also charged with sexual assault in relation to two separate female inmates.

An NJ Advance Media special report in 2017 found a history of sexual abuse at the facility, including one officer who was fired for sexually abusing multiple women but never criminally charged.

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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