Dan G. Milford Gelin
Dan G. Milford Gelin, 27, of Elizabeth, was born in Haiti and moved to the United States in 2007. He was held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, where prosecutors say another person held there fatally stabbed him in early December 2021. Officials said medical staff treated him after a fight the night before and returned him to a housing unit, while a union official and his family's lawyers say he was stabbed and placed in a detention cell rather than given immediate medical help. He was found collapsed on his cell floor the next morning and pronounced dead at University Hospital, and a lawsuit says jail officers failed to protect him and his medical provider failed to care for him. In 2025 a state grand jury voted not to charge any Essex County correctional officers, and the state Attorney General's Office investigated the conduct of jail staff.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody (disputed; neglect alleged). Prosecutors say another inmate fatally stabbed him, and the man charged with murder is the other inmate; his family's lawyers say staff placed him in a detention cell rather than giving medical care after the stabbing, and a lawsuit alleges the jail and its officers failed to protect him and his medical provider failed to care for him.
Reported by: Essex County Prosecutor's Office; New Jersey Office of the Attorney General (outside investigators); a union official; attorneys working with his family; his family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers); BMB Law Firm, retained by his family (family or their lawyers); New Jersey Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, following a state grand jury investigation (outside investigators).
Lawsuit: His family sued over his death in federal court, alleging the jail and its officers failed to protect him and that his medical provider failed to care for him; no settlement or award amount has been reported.
Sources (16)
- Attorney General investigating inmate death at Essex County jail
- NJ attorney general’s office joins investigation of inmate death at Essex County jail
- NJ Spotlight News | AG's office investigating inmate death at Essex County jail | Season 2021
- Essex County Promises New Review Of Prison As Pressure Mounts
- N.J. jail under review by task force after alleged prisoner beatings
- Protestors demand answers after one man beaten, another stabbed at N.J. jail
- NJ prisoner charged with stabbing death of another inmate
- Violence And The Death Of One Inmate At Newark’s Jail Reflects A National Problem
- NJ Spotlight News | Inmate charged after death at Essex County jail | Season 2021
- Inmate charged after death at Essex County jail | Video
- Essex jail inmate charged with stabbing death of another inmate. He now faces 2 murder charges.
- ECPO: Man charged with murder of fellow inmate at Essex jail
- NJ man who fatally stabbed jail inmate sentenced in fatal shooting
- Essex County Prison Officers Won't Face Charges After Death Of Inmate
- No criminal charges against Essex County jail guards in the death of Elizabeth man -
- State Grand Jury Declines to Criminally Charge Officers in Connection with Death of Inmate While in Custody at the Essex County Correctional Facility