– Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that an inmate serving time for murder and a nurse were both sentenced today by the Honorable Martin G. Cronin, Judge of the Superior Court, for conspiring to bring 50 decks of heroin into Northern State Prison in Newark.
Christopher Ramdayal, 40, of Jersey City entered a guilty plea back in August to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance. Frank Booker, 60, formerly of Newark also entered a guilty plea to the same charge. On April 6, 1987, Booker was sentenced to 99 years with a 30-year period of parole ineligibility for a murder in Middlesex County.
On May 19, 2014, Ramdayal was captured on law enforcement surveillance video in the parking lot of a store on Springfield Avenue in Newark where he met with a woman he thought was a drug dealer. In fact, she was an undercover investigator with the Northern State Prison Special Investigations Division.
Today, Booker, who will be eligible for parole in 2017 for the murder, was sentenced to three years for conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance. Ramdayal, who has no prior convictions, was given a probationary term but was forced to forfeit his job and is permanently barred from public employment. Ramdayal was employed by Rutgers University, which was under contract to provide nursing services to the prison, when he agreed to bring 50 decks of heroin into Northern State Prison in exchange for $500.
Ramdayal, a licensed practice nurse, has been suspended from nursing for two years by the New Jersey Board of Nursing.
Assistant Prosecutor Peter C. Polidoro, who handled the case, said, “Bringing contraband into a correctional facility is a serious offense that puts many people at risk. Efforts to keep contraband out of Northern State Prison and the Essex County Correctional Facility will continue.’’