Christopher Santana, a former senior correctional police officer at Northern State Prison in Newark, drew a three-year state prison term for taking bribes to smuggle contraband into the facility where he worked. Prosecutors say he collected thousands of dollars from associates of inmates.

Christopher Santana, 33, of Hackensack, admitted taking bribes to smuggle contraband into the Newark facility where he worked. The case is the second contraband conviction of a Northern State officer in 14 months, amid a state watchdog's warnings about conditions inside.

A state judge on Monday sentenced a former senior correctional police officer at Northern State Prison to three years in state prison for taking bribes to smuggle contraband into the Newark facility where he worked, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General announced Wednesday.

Christopher Santana, 33, of Hackensack, pleaded guilty on August 18 to second-degree conspiracy to commit bribery. Judge Michael Ravin, sitting in state Superior Court in Essex County, imposed the sentence on October 5 and ordered Santana to forfeit $4,500 in bribe payments. The court permanently barred Santana from public office or public employment in New Jersey; the New Jersey Department of Corrections had fired him in July 2025. Second-degree crimes carry five to 10 years in state prison; the plea had fixed the recommended term at three years.

The scheme ran from approximately May 2024 through June 2025, according to the Attorney General's Office. Santana collected thousands of dollars from associates of people incarcerated at the prison, the payments made in cash and through a personal mobile payment app. The initial complaint had put the bribes at about $2,000; prosecutors later described the take as thousands of dollars, and the plea set forfeiture at $4,500.

On the evening of June 10, 2025, acting on information received, officers watched Santana arrive for his scheduled shift and noticed a large bulge in the chest of his clothing. Officers searching him found two vacuum-sealed bags of tobacco and three bottles of an unknown liquid under his vest and near his upper thigh, according to prosecutors.

Investigators arrested him on June 11, 2025, and charged him with third-degree contraband, second-degree bribery and second-degree official misconduct. In later searches of inmates investigators believed had worked with him, they seized a cellphone along with what they suspected was tobacco, marijuana and pills containing controlled dangerous substances. He appeared in Essex County Superior Court that day and the court released him under a no-contact condition covering witnesses and co-conspirators, according to the Attorney General's Office.

A state grand jury indicted him on May 26, 2026, on four second-degree counts: conspiracy, bribery in official and political matters, acceptance or receipt of an unlawful benefit by a public servant for official behavior and official misconduct. Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said at the time that Santana could face up to 40 years. Anthony Pope, a Newark attorney, represented Santana.

“Taking bribes to help inmates evade the very security measures he was responsible for enforcing is a fundamental betrayal of the badge — and of the public trust that comes with it,” Davenport said. “As demonstrated by the sentence imposed, abuses of trust by law enforcement officers will be met with significant repercussions.”

“This case underscores the profound damage done when those entrusted with maintaining order choose instead to break the law alongside the people they are there to guard,” said Martha Nye, Interim Director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “This is an appropriate sentence for compromising security inside a prison and damaging the credibility of law enforcement generally.”

Deputy Attorney General Samantha Eaton prosecuted the case; the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability and the corrections department's Special Investigations Division investigated.

In August 2025, another former Northern State officer, Werner Gramajo, 48, of Newark, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit official misconduct for smuggling items to an incarcerated man in exchange for cash; prosecutors recommended 364 days in the Essex County jail. Gramajo admitted being paid $500 a month, roughly $6,000 in all, for supplying cash, jewelry, eyeglasses, clothes, cold cuts and other food, cologne, stamps, according to the Attorney General's Office. “The defendant misused his position of trust, authority, and access to this facility in order to unlawfully enrich himself,” said then-Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

The prison, which opened in 1987 on Frontage Road in Newark, was already under scrutiny from the New Jersey Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson. An October 2024 report on a reopened housing unit documented flooding, sewage and drug use, following two suicides there earlier that year, according to the office. The unit holds about 400 people. The report urged cutting that population and pressed lawmakers to mandate public data and habitability standards for such units, concluding the state holds people in “state buildings that do not meet minimum standards of habitability.”

Corrections officials said people incarcerated in the unit had damaged underground waste lines by flushing sheets, shoes and clothing into toilets, prompting $800,000 in emergency repairs. The department put the repair bill at about $115 million for 27 infrastructure projects, according to NJ Spotlight News.

“When an officer chooses to accept bribes and smuggle contraband, they do not just break the law – they actively endanger the safety and security of their colleagues and the incarcerated population,” Department of Corrections Commissioner Victoria L. Kuhn said. “This sentence sends a definitive message: we have zero tolerance for actions that tarnish the badge and diminish the good work for the thousands of dedicated professionals who serve with honor.”

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Sources

• New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, “AG Platkin: Northern State Prison Corrections Officer Allegedly Accepted Bribes to Smuggle Contraband to Inmates” (June 2025)

• New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, “Former Northern State Prison Senior Corrections Officer Pleads Guilty After Taking Bribes to Supply Contraband to Inmate” (August 5, 2025)

• New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, “Senior Correctional Officer Indicted After Allegedly Accepting Payments to Smuggle Contraband Into Northern State Prison” (May 26, 2026)

• New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, “Former Senior Correctional Police Officer Pleads Guilty After Smuggling Contraband Into Newark's Northern State Prison in Exchange for Bribes” (August 18, 2026)

• New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, “AG Davenport: Former Senior Correctional Police Officer Sentenced to Three Years in New Jersey State Prison After Smuggling Contraband Into Northern State Prison” (October 7, 2026)

• New Jersey Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson, “2026 Annual Report” (October 2026)

• Steve Janoski, “Prison guard indicted for smuggling contraband into Northern State,” Jersey Vindicator (May 27, 2026)

• Alec Sturm, “Ex-corrections officer admits he smuggled tobacco into NJ prison,” NJ.com (August 18, 2026)

• “Another report finds faults inside NJ prison,” NJ Spotlight News (October 9, 2024)

Photo: NJDOC