Ortiz v. New Jersey Department of Corrections

The opinion of the court was delivered by

GRALL, J.A.D.

Edwin Ortiz is an inmate currently incarcerated at Northern State Prison and serving a thirty-year sentence for murder imposed in December 1987. He has been identified as a member of a Security Threat Group (STG), the Latin Kings. See N.J.A.C. 10A:5-1.3; N.J.A.C. 10A:5-6.5. Denying his membership in the Latin Kings, Ortiz invoked the Department of Corrections’ inmate-remedy system, N.J.A.C. 10A:1-4.1 to -4.9, to obtain an explanation for his identification as a member and correction of his institutional record. Because Ortiz did not file…