Violent NJ convict attacks Hudson County jail corrections officer

KEARNY — A man already being held at Hudson County jail has been charged with attempted murder after an attack that left a corrections officer beaten and unconscious.

Kelvin Jamison was additionally charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, as first reported by the Jersey Journal, and confirmed in a criminal complaint.

On Saturday night, correctional police officer Jerry Bonilla was escorting a nurse during medication rounds when he was punched and stomped repeatedly by Jamison, who also stole the officer's radio and some keys, opening nine cell doors.

A GoFundMe campaign setup by fellow correctional officer Tasha Salters has been raising money for Bonilla’s wife and two daughters as he recovers.

The officer was intubated after suffering a concussion, ear laceration and multiple facial injuries, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed for Jamison.

Jamison’s criminal record includes a three-year sentence handed down in late 2019, stemming from the brutal January 2019 mugging of an 87-year-old woman in Jersey City.

When sentenced for aggravated assault in November 2019, aggravating factors listed on court documents included the “gravity and seriousness of harm inflicted on the victim,” as well as the risk that the defendant would commit another offense.

He had already served 288 days in jail, between Jamison's arrest and the time of his sentencing.

Jamison was then arrested this past February after a domestic violence incident, according to the same Jersey Journal report, which said he also faces a charge for beating another inmate in April.

Erin Vogt is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach her at erin.vogt@townsquaremedia.com

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