The Special Treatment Unit is a facility in which civilly committed sex offenders are held, pursuant to the New Jersey Sexually Violent Predator Act of 1998 (N.J.S.A.
[1] In 2016, Gary Lanigan, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, and a host of others were hit with a class action suit filed by detainees.
They claim their civil rights are violated because they are not provided "adequate and meaningful mental health treatment" (necessary for their possible release) due to "systematic deficiencies."
The complaint also says that in addition to the reportedly inadequate treatment, plaintiffs have "been confined in punitive conditions" that overstep the goal of the Sexually Violent Predator Act.
Plaintiffs seek redress for the defendants’ alleged preference to "warehouse" such offenders out of sight in an attempt to indefinitely detain and punish, rather than treat supposed mental disabilities.