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By MICHAEL T.BURKHART
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
Rabbi Fred J. Neulander may be able to work as a tutor in state prison, making less than $2 a day as he fulfills a promise he made to the jury that spared his life.
The 61-year-old Cherry Hill rabbi, convicted in November of hiring two hit men to kill his wife, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday morning in Superior Court here. Because the Monmouth County jury that found him guilty couldn't agree on whether to impose the death penalty, Judge Linda G. Baxter will sentence him to 30 years to life behind bars.
On Nov. 20, the jury agreed Neulander orchestrated the murder-for-hire beating death of his wife, Carol, in 1994 at the couple's Highgate Lane home. Two days later, the same jury deadlocked on whether Neulander should die by lethal injection or spend the rest of his life in prison for the crime.
Since the trial, Neulander has been in Camden County Jail while he awaits sentencing.
"He's reading," said his attorney, Michael Riley. "He's had some good days and bad days."
Since his bail was revoked in June 2000, the rabbi has spent much of his time in the Camden jail, with two exceptions. Last May, a court-ordered transfer sent the rabbi to the Burlington County Jail so he could be closer to Riley, who practices in Mount Holly. And during last year's retrial in Freehold, he was held in the Monmouth County Jail there.
Now he's destined for a new home, although officials haven't yet decided which of the state's eight prisons will house him. This week's sentencing will condemn the once- prominent community leader to decades of rigid rules that determine what he reads, how he exercises and what he wears.
New Jersey offers no special provisions for older inmates, said Chris Carden, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. At South Woods State Prison in Cumberland County, however, there is an extended-care unit that serves elderly inmates who need medical help as well as prisoners with AIDS or cancer.
After sentencing, Neulander will be taken to the Central Reception and Assignment Facility in Trenton, where he'll spend about a week undergoing a battery of interviews and tests, including a psychological profile. His potential security threat will be assessed.
He'll be given a rule book and issued khaki prison shirts and pants, socks, underwear and shoes.
Neulander does not have a say in where he'll be sent, Riley said. That determination, prison officials said, is based on his interviews and where beds are available.
"You mind your business and you do your time," Carden said. "It's no picnic."
Prison life is about routine, and Neulander will get plenty of that.
"The routine could be made more interesting if he has an interest in stimulating his mind," Carden said. "That's up to the individual. Physically, you're not allowed much leeway."
Many of the restrictions are put in place by individual prison superintendents and vary from facility to facility, Carden said.
Wake-up time varies by prison. But as a general rule, the days are filled with things to keep prisoners busy, leaving little time for scheming illegal activities.
Neulander, former senior rabbi at Congregation M'kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, will be able to have a television and radio in his cell along with some personal effects like pictures and library books. The cell is concrete or cinder block, so there are "no pegboards in there" to hang decorations, Carden said.
Cell size varies depending on the facility, but Neulander's will probably be about 8 feet by 10 feet.
"It's a very limited amount of space," Carden said. "And you're talking about two people in there."
If Neulander behaves and keeps a clean record, he may be able to tutor other inmates, Carden said. But that's not a certainty.
He would earn a wage starting at $1.60 per day for the work.
"It is clearly up to the administration to determine the extracurricular activities," Carden said. "You'll find in prison that there are a number of inmates helping other inmates. It's not uncommon."
In the penalty phase of his retrial, Neulander told jurors that he would do good in prison if they spared his life. He said he planned to teach inmates how to read.
"I promise that I will do whatever a teacher should do to enrich the lives of people who come in contact with that teacher," Neulander told the jury. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you give me this privilege to redeem, to atone, what will happen is the days of the years of your life will will indirectly be made more rich because you've given me the privilege in the days of the years of my life to reach out and change for the better."
Neulander is well-traveled and intelligent, Riley said. His experiences can help others.
"He's still looking forward to making a contribution in any way he can," Riley said.
Other jobs that could be be available for Neulander include cleaning his cell, working in the kitchen, mopping floors and performing maintenance. Low-risk inmates can do work details outside the razor wire.
Recreation is also guided by individual prisons. Many have basketball programs, Carden said. A handful allow inmates to lift weights, although that activity is being phased out.
Generally, Neulander's visitors must be placed on an approved list. Length and frequency of visits are determined by each prison superintendent. Neulander will be allowed face-to-face visitors, although conjugal visits are prohibited.
Any interview with members of the media would be conducted through a glass partition, Carden said. Neulander has so far refused all requests for interviews.
Neulander could have a cellmate, although some state facilities have single rooms. However, bad behavior or rule violations would land the rabbi in a solitary cell, as would a suicide watch.
The rabbi, who wrote his memoirs under a pseudonym in 2001, won't be permitted to buy books unless they are purchased directly through a publisher. Newspapers and magazines must be bought from the prison commissary and may not be brought in from the outside. Packages of any kind aren't allowed.
Reach Michael T. Burkhart at (856) 486-2474 or mburkhart@ courierpostonline.com
