Former N.J. corrections officer headed to federal prison for failing to stop beatings

A former corrections officer at Bayside State Prison has been sentenced to 20 months behind bars for failing to intervene when a group of inmates attacked a fellow prisoner as he watched, and, in a separate incident, failing to stop a colleague from beating a man who was incarcerated at the facility.

Joshua Hand, 35, of Millville, was sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for depriving the two men of their right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said in a statement.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams sentenced Hand to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine.

Federal prosecutors said Hand stood by during two separate attacks on men incarcerated at the prison in Leesburg, N.J., in December 2019.

In the first incident, prosecutors say, Hand did nothing to help an inmate who was assaulted by a group of prisoners who beat, kicked, and punched him in the kitchen area of the facility as the corrections officer stood by, and he did not summon medical help or report the assault to his supervisors.

Later that day, Hand did not move to intervene when a fellow officer repeatedly struck a prisoner in the legs with a broomstick, prosecutors said. Hand, who was within arm’s length of the assault, did nothing to stop it, and he did not report the incident to his supervisors.

Hand pleaded guilty in February to violating the men’s civil rights. His attorney, Louis Barbone, could not immediately be reached for comment.