Jail Life through Time

As Newark grew from a small town into a large metropolis, the city jail grew alongside and adapted. From the 1890s to the 1930s, new buildings and facilities were gradually added, including a hospital, powerhouse, laundry, and space for prisoners to pass the time. Most individuals here were arrested for petty crimes such as drunkenness, prostitution, and loitering. Unlike today, they served short sentences before rejoining the community. For most of the jail’s lifespan, the warden and his family were required to live and work alongside the prisoners. This state of affairs changed in the late 20th century as a different paradigm in the justice system emerged and stretched this jail, along with all others around the country, beyond capacity.

All news clippings and reports featured below are scanned from the Newark Public Library or New York Times archives. All current site photos by Columbia University GSAPP. All infographics by Yujin Cho.


Image by Columbia University GSAPP

Photo of the Wardens House

Photo of the Wardens House
1666
1666

Newark Founded

Newark Founded

Puritan settlers from New Haven, Connecticut settle Newark as a religious utopia. The village economy of under 1,500 people relies entirely on agriculture.

1810
1810

Old County Courthouse and Jail

Old County Courthouse and Jail

Essex County builds its courthouse with a jail in the dark and damp basement dungeons at the location, where Grace Church now stands. The structure will burn down in 1835.

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Read the 1927 Star-Ledger article about these dungeons.
1836
1836

Newark Incorporated as a City

Newark Incorporated as a City

Newark is incorporated as a city: “Though Newark was technically still only a township in the early 1830s, ‘city’ problems—crime, poverty, housing shortages, general filth—had already surfaced alongside the extraordinary population growth. According to an 1836 report from the State Temperance Society, in the preceding 18 months, 517 people had been committed to the Newark Jail…. The report pointed to alcohol as the cause of people’s problems. Newark was obviously home to a substantial number of troubled families: a little over 20 percent of the men arrested were charged with ‘beating and abusing their wives and children.’”

– Brad Tuttle, How Newark Became Newark

1836

Work Begins

In one of the first government acts, city fathers and county commissioners construct a courthouse and the Essex County Jail.

1837
1837

Jail and Courthouse Open

Jail and Courthouse Open

Above, photo of the Old Essex County Courthouse around 1907. The current courthouse that replaced this structure is seen rising behind in silhouette.

1867
1867

Child Incarceration

Child Incarceration

“Children as young as nine years old were held in jail for misdemeanors…Juvenile delinquents continued to be imprisoned with adults until 1867 when the first reformatory at Jamesburg was built.”

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– Ulana Zakalak, Essex County Jail Historic Building Analysys: Preliminary Draft

1869
1869

“ Jails should be converted solely to the detention of those awaiting trial.”

Report on the Conditions of NJ County Jails, released by the Commission on Prison Discipline

1873
1873

1873 The stock market crash leads to a surge in crime and temporary jail overcrowding.

1873 The stock market crash leads to a surge in crime and temporary jail overcrowding.
1882
1882

Prisoner Statistics by Percentages

Prisoner Statistics by Percentages

Today, about one-third of arrests in New York City are for drug crimes by people of color. In the 1880s, most arrests were for assault, drunkenness, and disorderly conduct; 45.6% of those in this jail were “new” immigrants.

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Click here to view infographic. Or browse the original statistics.
1890
1890
1891
1891

Warden’s Office Built

Warden’s Office Built

To meet growing demand, a new intake office is built at the west of the property. Stairs lead to the Warden’s Office above.

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Browse current photos of the Intake Office
1895
1895

Women’s Wing Opens

Women’s Wing Opens

Women’s Wing (left) and Warden’s House (right) in 1991

A Women’s Wing opens. This allows the guards to separate adult males from females and their young. The Women’s Wing is almost identical in design to the West Wing (1890) and the rebuilt East Wing (c.1907).

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Browse current photos of the Women’s Wing.
1902
1902

Last Execution

Henry Schaub is executed by hanging for slashing his wife and baby to death. Since then, all death sentences are carried out by electric chair in Trenton.

1904
1904

North Wing Opens

North Wing Opens

The North Wing opens. Rapists, murderers, and the most serious offenders are housed on one side. Juvenile delinquents are housed on the other. An adjacent Engine Room provides the entire prison, for the first time in its history, with steam heat and electricity.

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Browse current photos of the North Wing or Engine Room.
1907
1907

East Wing Rebuilt

East Wing Rebuilt

Photo from 1907 news clipping describing the changes. The East Wing’s 1837 brick cells are demolished and entirely rebuilt in steel. Unlike before, these new cells have plumbing, toilets, and electricity.

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Read a news article about the demolition. Or browse current photos of the rebuilt East Wing.
1909
1909

Hospital Opens

Hospital Opens

A two story hospital opens on-site to provide inmates with medical care. This reflects the growing public interest in attending to inmates medical needs.

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Browse current photos of the hospital.
1911
1911

Newark Diversity

Newark Diversity

Newark is a diverse, multicultural, and politically stable city with  large German, Italian, and Irish communities. The city’s diversity is reflected in the demographics of those arrested.

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View the above map in detail.
1918
1918

Prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition turns conscientious citizens into law breakers for relaxing with a whiskey after work. A vast underworld amasses money and power. The Essex County Jail population fluctuates wildly in the 20s, reflecting social and demographic shifts.

1922
1922

The Great Migration

The Great Migration

Six million African-Americans flee racial violence in the South to seek work in northern cities.  The jail’s population of colored inmates nearly triples from 16.8% in 1922 to 45.4% in 1930.

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Hear former officer Dave Cannon and Warden John Trezza describe shifting demographics at the old Essex County Jail.

1922

Prisoner Statistics by Numbers

Prisoner Statistics by Numbers

“The Negro in Newark,” Reported by Newark Interracial Commission (1936): The Negro population increased 129% between 1920 and 1930, with 71% born in the south.  Though constituting only 9% of Newark’s population, people of color account for 40% of the incarcerations. Only four police officers and eight teachers among 42,000 Negro Citizens.

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Click here to view infographic. Or browse the original statistics.
1929
1929

Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression hits Newark. The jail turns crowded.  In April 1935, men wait in line to join the excavation of Newark’s subway system, a job paying four dollars for a ten-hour day.

1930
1930

Jail has “Prettiest Garden” in City

Jail has “Prettiest Garden” in City

The Essex County Jail reportedly has “one of the prettiest flower gardens in Newark,” a hobby for Mr. and Mrs. Steadman, the warden and matron. A few “trusties” among prisoners are rewarded for good behavior to work in the garden as recreation. Large flower beds and an extensive lawn form a bright spot outside the Warden’s  House. At the right-hand corner stands a greenhouse.

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Read about this garden in The Newark Call.
1932
1932

A Warden’s Plea

A Warden’s Plea

With the budget cut in the Great Depression, an inmate is fed on 12 cents a day in 1932, six cents less than previous year. (A loaf of bread costs eight cents.) The lower commodity prices and contributions from the penitentiary farm allow Warden Steadman to maintain the food quality. He writes to inmates: “My hope is that I will be a better man for having known you and that you will be none the worse for knowing me.”

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Read this story in The Star-Ledger.
1936
1936

African-Americans in Newark

African-Americans in Newark

Above: This 1936 report from the Newark Interracial Commission describes the living conditions, poverty, and challenges African-Americans faced in Newark.

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Read the report.
1944
1944

Prisoners Serve the War Effort

Prisoners Serve the War Effort

During WWII, many parolees went directly to the military and served honorably with a significantly lower rate of misbehavior than the average soldier.

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Read this story in The Newark Call.
1959
1959

The Jail Routine

The Jail Routine

“Explains Warden Alwin E. Wangner of Bloomfield: …. ‘No prisoner is going to be happy, but we try to keep them reasonably content: The better the morale, the easier it is to keep order.’ …. What is a day like here? It is wait, walk, and sleep – but mostly wait. The calendar and the clock have the lead roles in this stone and steel stage.”

The Star-Ledger, 25 March 1959

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1960
1960

Jail faces severe overcrowding.

Jail faces severe overcrowding.

Newark becomes a majority Black city, while the city government and police remain majority white.

1967
1967

Newark Rebellion

Newark Rebellion

In July 1967, cab driver John Smith is pulled over by police, arrested, and brutally beaten. This launches a week of chaos, with 26 individuals shot by the National Guard, over 1,000 arrested, and many detained in the Essex County Jail.

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1967

“This is world America. You are in the trance of the White People. You will be escorted to your cell. In fact you will be pre-born into your cell.”

– Amiri Baraka

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After a traffic stop in July 1967, poet and activist Amiri Baraka was brutalized and jailed.

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Read Amiri’s testimony about this jail.
1968
1968

Jail Riots

Jail Riots

On September 29, riots erupt in the jail on account of poor living conditions and prisoner abuse.  For almost a year, the jail has been strained to the breaking point by massive arrests during the urban unrest. Prisoners now fight among themselves, smash furniture, and set fires that burn the ceiling.

Above: Sheriff’s officers escort prisoners into vans outside Essex County Jail for transfer to less crowded detention centers after rioting ended.

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Read The Star-Ledger story.
1968

Newark firemen battle fire set by inmates in West Wing (build 1890) during September 29 riot in jail. Prisoners chopped hole in ceiling and set small fires.

 

Read the Newark Evening News article about this fire.
1968

Nine Prisoners Escape

Nine Prisoners Escape

Essex sheriff Rahlph D’Ambola, left, and detective John Rellah with shotgun and Chief of Detectives Fred Scriffignana check wall around Newark county jail where nine prisoners escaped last night. At least one was recaptured the next day.

1971
1971

Jail Closes

Jail Closes

Jail closes after 134 years in operation. Inmates are moved to a new and expanded facility, pictured above. The current Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark holds about 2,500 inmates and federal detainees. The rapid growth of the prison industry provokes an uneasy observation by Newark City Historian Charles Cummings:

“The grand old facility exuded warmth, character, personality, even coziness, if such things can be said about a jail…. By comparison, the new Essex County Jail is nothing more than an impersonal concrete bunker.”

“Jail Grew and Evolved Alongside Crime Patterns,” The Star-Ledger, 19 March 2001

1971

The War on Drugs

The War on Drugs

A month after the jail’s closure, President Nixon declares a war on drugs. The following decades see a rapid increase in the US prison population from 161 prisoners per 100,000 people in 1972 to 707 prisoners per 100,000 people in 2012. The US now has more prisoners than any other nation.

1975
1975

Bureau of Narcotics

Bureau of Narcotics

The jail is used by the Essex County Sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotics. After the bureau moves out in 1989, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of law enforcement records are left behind, mixing with the trash and other debris from squatters and drug addicts.

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Read the New York Times article about these abandoned records.
1991
1991

Jail is Nationally Landmarked

Jail is Nationally Landmarked

The jail is declared a national landmark for its historical significance. To the left, a hand-drawn jail map from the designation report by Ulana Zakalak for the National Register of Historic Places.

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Read Ulana’s report.
2003
2003

Women’s Wing Catches Fire

Women’s Wing Catches Fire

Arsonists living in the jail set fire to the Women’s Wing. The blaze destroys this 1895 structure and part of the 1837 Warden’s House.

2017
2017

Demolition is Proposed

Alleging the jail poses a danger to public safety, Newark city government proposes to demolish this structure. No plans are made to preserve the structure, to remember the dozens of people executed here, or to commemorate the jail’s significance to Newark history.

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Read the article from Jersey Digs.
2019
2019

Liked what you saw? Explore more primary sources and news articles here. Or browse all contemporary site photos here.