Medical & Mental Health in New Jersey (NJDOC)

Getting Care

Health care in New Jersey prisons is provided by Rutgers University Correctional Health Care (UCHC), a division of Rutgers University that holds the state’s prison medical, dental, and mental-health contract. A person requests non-emergency care through the facility’s sick-call process; emergency and chronic care are provided as needed.

The Co-pay

New Jersey charges a co-pay: $5 for a medical or dental visit and $1 for a medication. Many situations are exempt, including intake and discharge exams, lab work and x-rays a provider orders, staff-initiated visits and provider-scheduled follow-ups, emergency care, and all mental-health, substance-use, and psychiatric treatment. By regulation, no one is denied medical, dental, mental-health, or medication services because they cannot pay the co-pay.

Medication-Assisted Treatment

New Jersey has run medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder in its corrections system since 2017, combining counseling with FDA-approved medications (such as naltrexone, buprenorphine, and methadone). The program connects people to continued treatment after release, and naloxone is part of reentry planning.

Mental Health

Mental-health care is provided by UCHC and is exempt from the co-pay. Services include psychiatric and psychological treatment, substance-use treatment, and social-work support.

Pregnancy and Parenting

Under New Jersey’s Dignity for Incarcerated Primary Caretaker Parents Act (2020), a woman known to be pregnant may not be restrained during any stage of labor, delivery, postpartum recovery, or a pregnancy-related medical emergency, and a pregnant woman may not be held in solitary (isolated) confinement. The law also directs the department to place a parent who was a child’s primary caretaker as close as possible to the child where feasible, to offer parenting classes, and to set minimum visiting opportunities.

Raising a Concern

A person raises a problem — including about medical or mental-health care — through the Inmate Remedy System. It is a two-step process: a written inquiry or grievance (answered within about 30 days), then an administrative appeal filed within 10 days, which is the final level of review before going to court.

Families have separate channels:

The Corrections Ombudsperson. New Jersey has an independent Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson that provides information to incarcerated people, their families, and advocates and looks into concerns about conditions and treatment. Reach it at the toll-free line 1-888-909-3244 (main office (609) 633-2596), by email at info@oco.nj.gov, or by mail at P.O. Box 855, Trenton, NJ 08625. Have the person’s name and SBI number ready. It is not an emergency responder.
Sexual abuse (PREA). A family member or other third party can report sexual abuse or harassment to the NJDOC Special Investigations Division at (609) 826-5617 or to the Corrections Ombudsperson; the department states a zero-tolerance policy and protection from retaliation.
NJDOC releases case-specific information about a person generally only with that person’s consent.

Where to Get Help

Several New Jersey organizations work with incarcerated people and their families: the ACLU of New Jersey (prisoners’-rights litigation and policy), New Jersey Prison Justice Watch (a coalition of families, survivors, and advocates), AFSC Prison Watch (which responds to families; (973) 643-3192), and NAMI New Jersey for mental-health support ((732) 940-0991).

Verify Before Acting

Sources

This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.