16°
Marina Volz, 34, originally was processed as a man and sent to serve a 25-year sentence at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton.
But a check of state records -- prompted by recent published reports -- found Volz listed at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility along with Ashley Romero, a 30-year-old transgender inmate herself who was convicted of participating in the abuse.
New Jersey Department of Corrections records also were changed to list Volz's gender as female.
Volz's presence has stirred turmoil in the already-infamous prison off Route 78 in Clinton, according to published reports.
Reforms ordered by a federal judge have continued at the facility, which for years had been known for alleged sexual assaults and other misconduct by guards, in addition to the recent pregnancy of two inmates following consensual sex with transgender prisoners.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of a trans woman by New Jersey's ACLU moved the state to begin housing transgender inmates at Edna Mahan in 2021. Two female inmates immediately filed suit looking to revoke the policy, claiming that they'd been harassed by trans prisoners.
Published reports say Volz wants to marry Romero, which some apparently believe would allow them to share a cell. It wasn't immediately clear whether corrections officials would allow that.
Volz -- who operated a transgender fetish porn studio -- was convicted along with Romero and two other defendants last year of sexually abusing Volz's daughter in the basement of her Franklin Township home in Somerset County.
Both Volz (who was born Matthew) and Romero (who was born Adam) began serving 25-year sentences on May 6, 2022. Although they were denied parole, they could become eligible for release at the end of May, 2044, according to state corrections records.
Volz was first sent to South Woods before reportedly being transferred to Edna Mahan last July. She and Romero are among 30 transgender prisoners and more than 800 female inmates there.
Volz won custody of her daughter in 2018, then brought her back to New Jersey with her from her mother's home in Oregon.
Unspeakable, unimaginable crimes followed.
Investigators responding to an anonymous tip raided the home and discovered dozens of computers, cameras and portable drives that contained a trove of child sexual abuse -- along with guns, a high-capacity magazine and cocaine.
Volz, Romero and Sean Allen all eventually pleaded guilty to various sex trafficking, sexual assault and child endangerment counts, among other offenses. A fourth defendant, Dulcinea Gnecco, pleaded guilty to child endangerment.
Allen, who's incarcerated at South Woods, must serve 10 years of his sentence before he'll be eligible for parole.
Gnecco was sentenced to five years but was released in September 2022 after only five months at Edna Mahan, state records show.
“There is no hope that they will emerge from incarceration as better people because they are incapable of redemption" and hadn't "accepted full responsibility,” Deputy First Assistant Somerset County Prosecutor W. Brian Stack told the judge at their sentencings. “They’re bad people.”
******
NOTE: You can call the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency (NJ DCP&P) Child Abuse Hotline anonymously, 24 hours a day: 1-877-NJ ABUSE (1-877-652-2873).
******
Click here to follow Daily Voice Marlton-Evesham and receive free news updates.
