Union County Jail  

In Union County, New Jersey, there has been a jail on the site since 1811, when the jail was established in the basement of a court, which was primarily used to hold runaway slaves, the insane, and beggars in the area. Back in 1811, Elizabethtown was considered a part of Essex County, located in Newark, and was considered the county seat where criminals of the area were held.

Union City was founded in 1858, the city made plans to re-develop a new Court House at the jail which was in Elizabethtown. The building then was opened in 1862, and was used until the year 1927, when a new addition was added onto the Court House, especially due to the large amounts of inmates being brought in, and not enough room (cells) to house all inmates in the area.

In 1902, the average population in the jail and holding cells was approximately fifty inmates per day. This total included all inmates, including juveniles, in many cases some of these individuals were under the age of ten. In 1927 the new jail was opened, adjacent to a facility which housed detention rooms for inmates with diseases and illnesses (including tuberculosis), and other medical conditions. It also included a solarium, laundry facility, kitchen, consulting rooms, and had two tiers which could house an additional thirty four inmates in each of the rooms. In 1931, the city added an additional 17 tiers to the jail, increasing holding capacity in the cells by 180, and could now house approximately 250 inmates at a time; this was used until 2001.

The most recent addition, and current location to the jail, originally opened in 1989 (and planned a capacity of 550 inmates). To this current date the population of inmates has increased by 3000% since originally opened in 1902; the jail can currently hold 1048 inmates (933 in Elizabethtown, and 122 in Delany & Logan halls in Newark).