The old Essex County Jail, once considered a monument to America's penal system, is an unsafe structure that Newark wants to demolish.
The old Essex County Jail sits along Newark and New streets, hidden by tall weeds and brush, surrounded by new development that makes one forget it is even there, unless you're a preservationist or history buff.
In 2010, there were plans to demolish most of the 10-building complex, closed since 1970, to make way for two technology buildings. But members of the Newark Landmarks & Historic Preservation Commission - the jail is on the state and national registers of historical places, and Preservation New Jersey's list of "Most Endangered Places" - thought the project, proposed by a non profit University Heights Science Park, was too broad.
The commission believed the jail's architecture was worth saving, so it rejected the proposal. Since then, the facility - built in 1837 by John Haviland, one of America's famed penitentiary architects - has sat idle.
Soon, that may not be the case. Demolition plans are on the table again. The city, which took over the facility from the county in 2001, is recommending that the jail be torn down. According to Phillip Scott, Newark's director of engineering, the city is in the process of ceding control of the property to University Heights Science Park, although the group's plans for the site are still unknown.
Bill Mikesell, chairman of the preservation commission, said city construction official Neil Mitgard told him last week that he had inspected the property and determined it is not safe, and also noticed homeless people living in the complex.
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I went along when Mikesell and commission member Robert Hartman toured the jail on Tuesday with community stakeholders who are interested in what happens to the buildings, which once housed up to 368 prisoners.
A lot has changed since 2009, when University Heights Science Park hired an engineer to issue a structural report on the jail. It was in bad shape then, but Mikesell observed that it obviously has gotten worse, as he walked through the buildings once considered a monument to America's penal system.
Mikesell said that since the buildings have such historical importance, he is seeking a consensus from the commission members and a new structural report on the facility before any decision is made on demolition.
Scott plans to ask University Heights Science Park to submit a revised structural report to the commission. "For the most part, all of the buildings are in bad shape,'' he said. "It's way beyond repair. You can stand inside the building and see the sky.''
Since the building is on historic registers, both Mikesell and Scott said University Heights Science Park has to submit an application to the Landmark Commission if it wants to demolish the property. The nonprofit could not be reached for comment about its plans for the site.
Hartman said the commission and community members came out to look at the building first-hand because the preservation community was not aware of the city's desire to demolish the facility.
"We said, 'We've got to get the preservation community here, so they can see the state of the buildings.' ''
The concern moving forward is that if the jail is taken down, what happens next? What becomes of the site? Once it's gone, that's it.
Matt Gosser, a member of Newark's Preservation & Landmarks Committee, said he could see community gardens or a park built around what's left of the jail complex. Not much can be saved, he said, except for a sturdy exterior wall facing Newark Street and some wall sections inside the jail.
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"The footprints can be saved, and you can still bring people on tours in here and people can get a sense of the history,'' Gosser said.
"You should be able to go in here and tour it, see what the footprints were like, get a sense of what the jail was like, maybe observe one or two cells.''
Inside the jail, streaks of light stream through broken windows and the crumbling roof. The cells are marked by graffiti. Sections of the jail tiers, rusted by time, were cut away years ago when Spike Lee filmed "Malcolm X." "Turk 182!," another motion picture, was filmed there, too.
As we moved through the buildings, walking over debris, planks of wood and piles of rubble, pieces of history turned up.
There was a registration sheet, dated Feb. 6, 1965, with one person's name - Samuel Ward. Faded and worn pages from jail binders lay matted together on the floor. The warden's house was in better shape six years ago. Now, the floors are gone; the roof, too. Yet in the hospital wing, sections of porcelain walls are still intact.
You can still see the levers that closed the jail cells. There are shower stalls and small cubbies - about four of them - where prisoners talked with visitors.
At the corner of New and Newark streets, Gosser said tall weeds growing there are on land on which the warden's wife harvested a garden. It was filled with flowers and vegetables that were cooked for the prisoners' meals.
The afternoon excursion was rather sad. Another part of Newark's physical history may be gone without a trace - its existence only found if you do some research and reading.
Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger or nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL