New Jersey State Prison housed the death chamber, and the first death by electrocution occurred on December 11, 1907. In 1999 death row inmate Robert "Mudman" Simon, who was convicted of killing a police officer, died during a fight. The lethal injection chamber at the prison was never used, and the New Jersey Governor repealed the death penalty in December 2007. Therefore, the final execution to take place at the prison was a January 22, 1963 electrocution. The former lethal injection room now serves as an office. New Jersey State Prison The New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is
History of New Jersey of the Swedes and the Dutch, resulting in a struggle in which the Dutch proved victorious (1655). However, the English seized the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1664. New Jersey became one of the Thirteen Colonies which broke away from Britain in the American Revolution, adopting the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Becoming a state upon the formation of the United States, New Jersey saw significant action during the American Revolutionary War. New Jersey's delegates signed the Articles of Confederation in 1779 and Princeton acted as the nation's capital for four months in 1783. In 1787, New Jersey became