Grand Jury indicts New Jersey Department of Corrections police officer for official misconduct
A state grand jury last week indicted New Jersey Department of Corrections Police Officer Giuseppe Mandara on one count of second-degree official misconduct in connection with an August 2019 physical altercation with a resident at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center Special Treatment Unit in the Avenel section of Woodbridge. The program provides cognitive–behavioral treatment and relapse prevention to inmates who commit repetitive, compulsive sex offenses.
The indictment alleges that Mandara abandoned his equipment, including keys and radio, and used excessive force against the resident. Several days after the altercation, the resident suffered a fatal stroke. The grand jury heard testimony from the state medical examiner about the cause of the stroke and the manner of death. The grand jury declined to bring homicide charges against anyone involved in the altercation. The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time. The death in custody was investigated by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.
Official misconduct in the second degree carries a statutory mandatory minimum five-year period of parole ineligibility.
Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade. Prior to becoming a journalist she worked for Centurion, a Princeton-based nonprofit that works to free the innocent from prison. A graduate of Smith College, she earned her master's of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and her master's certificate in entrepreneurial journalism from The Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY.
