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'I was supposed to be safe': Alleged victims of abuse in NJ juvenile detention speak out
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jul 30, 2025
Modified Jul 30, 2025
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Screenshot from press conference by Levy Konigsberg and Baldante & Rubenstein
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jul 30, 2025
Modified Jul 30, 2025
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Several of the approximately 350 men and women who allege they were sexually abused in New Jersey’s juvenile detention centers said Wednesday they can’t stay silent any longer, and are speaking out for the first time as their lawsuits against the state continue.
They describe being abused, threatened and bribed as children at the state-run facilities, and discussed the cases at a press conference at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, where more than a dozen cases are filed.
Frederick Mabel was one of six former detainees who shared their stories. He said he stayed silent for years out of fear after being abused by two adults at a juvenile detention center, but refuses to do so any longer.
“ I work hard to build a life beyond what happened to me. But the truth matters. Our stories matter, and I won't let fear or silence define me anymore,” he said. “I was abused. The state failed me.”
Jason Ackerson fought back tears as he described the abuse he said he endured while inside New Jersey Training School, which remains open despite the state announcing plans to shut the Monroe Township facility down seven years ago under then-Gov. Chris Christie.
Dozens of men said they were abused at the facility, also known as “Jamesburg,” over decades, and current Gov. Phil Murphy’s office has said on multiple occasions it’s committed to closing the facility once other facilities are in place.
Ackerson said an officer had offered him extra food and privileges before becoming abusive.
" I was a child. I was supposed to be safe,” he said. “Instead, I was assaulted, threatened and traumatized in the place that was supposed to help me turn my life around.”
The lawsuits describe abuse incidents spanning more than 40 years from 1982 to 2024, attorneys representing the clients said Wednesday. Most of the accusers in the lawsuits, which were filed under the New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Act, were 16 years old or younger at the time of the alleged incidents.
The law allows those who were sexually assaulted as children to bring civil suits until age 55, or seven years after they become aware of damage suffered from the abuse, whichever is later.
“ These cases could not be more serious,” Jerome Block, an attorney at the law firm Levy Konigsberg, said on Wednesday. “Many of our clients were raped as children in government-operated New Jersey juvenile facilities, and many of our clients were forced to perform oral sex and other sexual acts. Our clients were threatened, bribed, coerced and manipulated. No child should have to go through that.”
The cases span New Jersey counties, and almost half are said to have happened at the New Jersey Training School. Other facilities named in the lawsuits include the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center in North Brunswick, where three lawsuits filed by 16 people against the county allege a “culture of abuse” flourished, and where accusers said they were subjected to inappropriate touching, coercive sexual contact and sexual assault by security guards and other staff members.
“These relationships often involved grooming and bribery whereby children detained at [the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center] were routinely offered special privileges and/or contraband — such as cigarettes and food from outside the facility — in exchange for sexual favors,” one of the lawsuits reads.
A spokesperson for the New Jersey attorney general's office said they couldn't comment on the statement at the press conference because of ongoing litigation, but said the state does not tolerate people in positions of power abusing those under their care.
The spokesperson stressed that people working in the juvenile correction system are subject to background checks and undergo training meant to prevent abuse and ensure allegations are investigated appropriately.
This story has been updated to reflect a statement from the attorney general's office.
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new jersey
public safety
Catalina Gonella
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