NJ guard indicted in beating of sex offender facility inmate who died

🔴 A corrections officer has been indicted for official misconduct

🔴 He's accused of beating a resident at a medium-security facility who later died

🔴 The resident's family claims he was left to die in his feces and vomit

WOODBRIDGE — A New Jersey corrections officer has been indicted for a 2019 beating at a facility in Middlesex County for the treatment of male sex offenders, according to authorities.

Giuseppe Mandara was indicted by a grand jury on a count of second-degree official misconduct, the Attorney General's Office announced Friday. He was involved in a "physical altercation" with a "resident" at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woodbridge on Aug. 23, 2019, authorities said.

"The indictment alleges that Mandara abandoned his equipment, including keys and radio, and thereafter used excessive or unlawful force against the resident," the OAG said.

Darrell Smith was pronounced dead on Aug. 28, 2019, days before his 51st birthday on Sept. 1, his obituary said. He had suffered a stroke days before his death. However, Mandara was not charged with homicide by the grand jury for Smith's death.

Mandara was suspended without pay on July 5 and he was expected to face disciplinary charges resulting in termination, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Amy Quinn told NJ.com in a statement.

Smith was sentenced in 1992 to a maximum of 40 years in prison after being convicted of kidnapping, according to state records. Then in 2016, he was moved to the ADTC Special Treatment Unit. At the facility, he began working in food preparation and had been promoted to chef shortly before his death, according to his obituary.

The ADTC is a facility for sex offenders with 845 residents as of Aug. 29, 2022, according to the DOC. It's designed to provide treatment and educational and vocational studies for offenders who have completed their prison sentences but are still considered "sexually dangerous."

Smith's family filed a federal lawsuit in the District of New Jersey in January 2021. It accused corrections officers of engaging in two separate attacks on Smith that left him in a "catatonic state" with a significant brain injury.

He was left unattended and without proper medical care for days after the beating, according to the lawsuit. When he was finally taken to the hospital, Smith was declared brain dead, the suit said.

An investigation into Smith's death is ongoing, according to the OAG.

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