Two of New Jersey’s most powerful female lawmakers say they want a public accounting of what’s going on behind the walls of the state women’s prison after a scathing report from the U.S. Justice Department found sex abuse of prisoners by staff remained an “open secret.”

State Sen. Linda Greenstein, who chairs the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee, said she was “appalled and disheartened” that federal investigators found the abuse, which dates back decades, had persisted to this day.

Greenstein, whose committee held a public hearing two years ago following a series of reports from NJ Advance Media detailing problems at the prison, said she would convene another one to seek answers from the Department of Corrections, which did not participate in the first hearing.

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg called the federal report “very disturbing” and said she was working with Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration to get a clear understanding of what needed to be done to prevent any more abuse and avoid costly legal action by federal officials.

The report, released Monday, found conditions at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the federal Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.

Asked Wednesday about the findings, Murphy called the report “deeply troubling” but placed blame on previous administrations.

“It’s a black mark without question in the corrections history in our state, and frankly it’s a black mark in our state’s history. I’m not dodging it in any way, shape or form,” he said. “It’s a situation we inherited, and we have taken a whole range of steps to address the situation we inherited.”

It is true that state lawmakers, the governor and corrections officials have enacted a host of measures in the last two years aimed at curbing abuse, from policy changes and more cameras inside the prison to a series of reform laws passed by the Legislature and signed by Murphy.

But it is not true that the allegations in the DOJ report were limited to before Murphy took office.

“Indeed, credible allegations of sexual abuse by both correction officers and civilian staff continued to surface throughout 2018 and into 2019, despite the attention focused on the issue," said the report, detailing the results of a nearly two-year federal inquiry by the New Jersey U.S. Attorney and the department’s Civil Rights Division in Washington.

The federal inquiry found New Jersey’s reform efforts had not changed the reality that prisoners continued to face.

“(State officials) and Edna Mahan have been aware that their women prisoners face a substantial risk of serious harm from sexual abuse, and they have failed to remedy this constitutional violation,” the report said.

Weinberg, who last year empaneled the state Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny in New Jersey Politics, said she had spoken with Corrections Commissioner Marcus Hicks about the problem and was promised a full accounting.

“What I would hope from the administration is honesty about what is still not corrected there and what they need to do to correct it,” Weinberg said. “Pretending that something is different is not good for the inmates and it’s not good for the administration.”

Weinberg, D-Bergen, said the working group’s efforts have been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, but they, too, could take up the issue.

“We know sexual harassment and worse is prevalent in our society at large,” she said. “Certainly to find it in a women’s prison, which sets up power and victimization in a classic way, is very disturbing.”

Greenstein, D-Middlesex, said she would be scheduling a hearing in the near future and hoped state corrections officials would show up to testify.

“I feel that the time has come for us to have a new hearing about Edna Mahan to see what we need to do to meet the minimal remedial measures laid out by the Department of Justice and to make sure once and for all that the state’s only women’s prison is not a national disgrace,” she said.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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