Man dies in Civil Commitment After Being Beaten by Officers
The family of Darrell Smith is suing the state after he was beaten to a near comatose state by a group of correctional officers at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel. The center is New Jersey’s civil commitment center, where people are held indefinitely after completing their sentence.
The beating was described as “gang-style” and even after he was left in a catatonic state, officers at the facility waited five days before taking him to the hospital, where he died two days later.
Mr. Smith completed his sentence in 2016, but has been involuntarily confined at the NJ Civil Commitment Center under a controversial law that allows the state to hold a person indefinitely even after the completion of their sentence. Currently 20 states (District of Columbia, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin) have such laws.
If Smith wasn’t in New Jersey or if the government abolished this cruel form of punishment, he would be alive today.
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I had a similar situation with correction officers at the same commitment center asDarrell Smith I was assaulted by a female officer by being sprayed with bleach and after I went crazy verbally but never threatening I was locked in my cell due to a code and beaten and dragged naked out my cell taken to shower cause I was sprayed with pepper spray and taken to medical for treatment then placed in lock up. I was then investigated and criminally charged for terroristic threats, obstruction of administrative law, assaulting seven correction officers and resisting arrest. After going to trial I was found not guilty of resisting arrest and assaulting officers but was found guilty ofterroistic threats and obstruction and recurved a 4 year sentence the obstruction was ran concurrent. After serving 14 months I was paroled back to civil commitment and then in February 2018 I won my appeal and got my conviction overturned and ultimately was found not guilty . The appeallete court really had a big problem with the officers testamoney their testamoney contradicted parts of vedio tape evidence these officers committed purjury and still working as correction officers as if noughting ever happened. Yes I agree if you can commit a crime like purjury then you should be punished for it. I to am suing the state and officials responsible.
Robert Meyer
You like myself, how do we get our time back we served when a sentence that we already served is reversed? I went to court and got an appeals judge to throw out the remaining part of my sentence due to lies made up by law enforcement. I asked 3 times for a lawyer and was told if I got a lawyer, they would go to the news and do a 1/2 special on me while sitting in front of my parents home.
Well they could give me mine back by letting me off the registry. But seems that will never happen even though registry did not even exist when I was arrested.
Robert, I pray you get some justice.
Sexual Civil Commitment needs to be eliminated. This is a very unfair law, therefore, if we commit sex offenders, them we should also commit, murders, all assaults, ETC. To keep a person locked up after he serves his sentence because, you think he will commit another sex offense is wrong. There is no way you can tell what a person is thinking, on less you are inside of his mind.
Names and addresses would be nice.
A little quid pro quo.
Return on their investments.
😉
I hope they go after the officers civilly too. I don’t blame them for suing. I’d sue them evey way possible..