These Texts from Camden Corrections Officers Are Incredibly Racist

A court released more than 5,000 text messages sent between officers at the Camden County Jail. Some of them are pretty bad!

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The Courier-Post made an open records request recently, asking for the text messages that got nine corrections officers dismissed at the Camden County Jail. After some wrangling in court, the newspaper finally got the messages. Yikes.

As Jim Walsh details in a report today, the texts are incredibly racist. The n-word flows freely. One officer sent a text message saying a black Philadelphia Eagle “should be tied to a bumper and dragged.” One officer, during a conversation about New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio for some reason, said “Don’t forget his wife is a colored.” Texts called the African-American warden of the jail, David Owens, “HNIC.” That doesn’t stand for Hockey Night in Canada.

Cell phones are not allowed in the jail. But during an investigation into a shakedown in November 2014, per a report, officer Michael Jacob told investigator he has multiple cell phones “because he cheats on his girlfriend.” This led to the suspension and then dismissal of nine officers for smuggling cell phones into the jail.

The contents of texts were also questioned. “The contents included thousands of highly inappropriate, crude and racist comments and ‘jokes’ referencing, among others, their African-American co-workers and the warden,” said a report.

One officer, Thomas McNulty, appealed his firing. It was upheld in September. A prosecutor said he sent a message that read, “Merry Christmas all my Knee-Grows. Have a blessed one.” A judge ruled his dismissal was “not only warranted, but essential.”

Also dismissed in the investigation were William Leister, Thomas Grosmick, Thomas McNellis, Lance McCarthy, Daniel Purdy, and Sgts. Kevin Crossan and Albert Daniels.

Investigators said 5,782 text messages were sent between September and December. Read a copy of the ruling upholding McNulty’s firing below (warning: graphic language).

New Jersey ruling on text messages