United States · New Jersey · Trenton
New Jersey State Prison
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
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New Jersey State Prison is a state prison located in Mercer County, New Jersey. Rated capacity: 1,819. Reported population: 1,587. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.
Background
The New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state men's prison in Trenton, New Jersey operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. It is the oldest prison in New Jersey and one of the oldest correctional facilities in the United States. It is the state's only completely maximum security institution, housing the most difficult and/or dangerous male offenders in the inmate population. NJSP operates two security units and provides a high level of custodial supervision and control. Professional treatment services, such as education and social work, are a priority at the facility.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
1,819
Current population
1,587
Occupancy
87%
Year opened
1832
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1832
Region
New Jersey
Security level
Maximum
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
The Marshall Project reported that long-term confinement in the Management Control Unit (MCU) at New Jersey State Prison is the norm, with advocates alleging it is used to discipline prisoners viewed as troublemakers or political leaders.
Notable inmates
Joseph Vincent Moriarty1910–1979Joseph Vincent Moriarty (June 1910 â February 26, 1979), also known as Newsboy Moriarty, was an Irish American mobster in Hudson County, New Jersey who controlled the numbers game.
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- Khalil Wheeler-Weaver1996
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver (born April 20, 1996) is an American serial killer and arsonist.
- Lawrence Adair1953 · chef
Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.
Contact & address
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
- Overcrowding
- 0/30
- Oversight reports
- 1/30
- Structural flags
- 5/15
- Death signals
- 5/15
- Conditions text
- 0/10
What the score is responding to:
- · 2 oversight reports in the last 5 years
- · Substantial documented known-issues record
- · In-custody-death signal in sources
This facility scores 11. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 9 points above national average.
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- Woodman State JailGatesvilleMaximumState prison720% occupancy
- Centinela State Prison (Cen)ImperialMaximumState prison150% occupancy
- Kern Valley State Prison (Kvsp)DelanoMaximumState prison152% occupancy
- Diagnostic And Evaluation CenterLincolnMaximumState prison178% occupancy
- High Desert State Prison (Hdsp)SusanvilleMaximumState prison152% occupancy
- Calipatria State Prison (Cal)CalipatriaMaximumState prison161% occupancy
Compared to other facilities in United States
7436 peersReports
- marshall-project10 Feb 2023
n solitary confinement, the kindness of one New Jersey corrections officer made him feel human. Tara Anand for The Marshall Project O ne winter day, sitting in the Big Yard of New Jersey State Prison, a close friend asked me a complicated question: “Do you hate cops more than anything?” I get questions like this a lot, not only because I write about the state of affairs at my facility, but
- marshall-project18 Nov 2021
ive Voices, a blog where he shares his poetry and essays and the writings of other incarcerated people. He was convicted of double homicide in 2005 and is serving 150 years at the New Jersey State Prison. A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Corrections stated that solitary confinement is no longer used at New Jersey State Prison, and could not comment on the incident involving
- marshall-project9 Sept 2021
ke the Enemy It doesn’t matter how American I feel. The labels applied to me are “foreign,” “terrorist,” “inmate” and “other.” I n late January, I was sitting in my cell in New Jersey State Prison listening to NPR when the news came across the airwaves: A Pakistani Supreme Court was releasing the men convicted of kidnapping and murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002,
- marshall-project15 Jul 2021
m antics could have sparked a fight. But as a former “hard case” myself, I was determined to help him. W hen I became a teachers’ aide for a basic adult education class here at New Jersey State Prison, I learned much more than I ever expected. I had already been incarcerated for nearly 10 years by then, and, as a mid-sized White guy, I survived those years by staying mostly under the radar. Now I
- marshall-project4 Mar 2021
ite and run away with his little girlfriend. Now, as a man in my 40s sentenced to life in prison, I think back to that puppet boy and I see myself. Sitting here in my cell at the New Jersey State Prison, where I’ve spent the last 15 years, it can be hard to find hope and humanity in a structure designed to take that away from you. I am the wooden boy in this prison, controlled by all sorts of
- marshall-project14 Dec 2016
, which is the only women’s prison in the state, the average number of days spent in administrative segregation was 338. Long-term confinement is similarly the norm in the MCU at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. All but one of the 34 people held in that unit – a form of long term confinement that advocates allege is used to discipline prisoners viewed as troublemakers or political leaders –
Data completeness
74%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries
- HIFLD dataset query
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries — US Department of Homeland Security â HIFLD Open Data
- OpenStreetMap — OpenStreetMap Contributors
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q1982648)
- Wikipedia
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). New Jersey State Prison. Retrieved October 25, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/new-jersey-state-prison
"New Jersey State Prison." World Prisons. Accessed October 25, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/new-jersey-state-prison.
@misc{worldprisons-new-jersey-state-prison,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {New Jersey State Prison},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/new-jersey-state-prison},
urldate = {2026-10-25}
}