*News
Release* Date: July 1, 2010
Middlesex
County Prosecutor’s Office
Prison employee arrested
Middlesex
County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and Gary M. Lanigan,
commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, announced today that
an employee at East Jersey State Prison has been arrested and charged with
having sex with five inmates and supplying drugs to two of them.
Joy
R. Black (DOB 10/6/77) of Irvington was arrested at the prison on June 30, 2010,
and was charged with official misconduct, five counts of sexual assault and two
counts of distributing a controlled dangerous substance.
Black,
who worked as a teacher’s assistant at the prison, is being held at the
She
was arrested and charged following an investigation by Sgt. Randi Colatrella
and Investigator Melissa Terpanick of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office
and Senior Investigator Chris Birardi and Senior
Investigator Kevin Koch of the Special Investigations Unit of East Jersey State
Prison.
The
investigation determined that Black had sexual relations with the inmates in a
school area inside the prison on various occasions between November 2009 and
June 2010.
Additionally,
the investigation determined that Black brought undisclosed quantities of marijuana
and cocaine to the prison and gave the illegal substances to two of the inmates
during the same time period.
The
prison is located in the Avenel section of Woodbridge. Black has worked there
since June 12, 2004.
Prosecutor
Kaplan noted that members of the Woodbridge Police Department assisted in the
investigation and thanked them for their work.
Anyone
with information on the case is asked to contact Sgt. Colatrella or
Investigator Terpanick at (732) 745-3600, or Senior Investigator Birardi or Senior Investigator Koch at (732) 499-5003.
As
is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Black are merely
accusations and she is presumed innocent until proven guilty.