Trenton, NJ – A New Jersey federal judge has issued a split ruling in a lawsuit brought by the Sinai Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, a skilled nursing facility, against the New Jersey Department of Health and its commissioner, Kaitlan Baston, over regulations impacting the care of federal inmates.
The case stems from Sinai’s 2024 agreement with NaphCare, Inc., a federal contractor that administers medical services for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Under the deal, Sinai agreed to provide post-acute and rehabilitative care for inmates transferred from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. At the time, inmate patients made up less than three percent of Sinai’s overall population of roughly 390 residents.
Sinai argues that New Jersey’s requirements for skilled nursing facilities, including N.J.S.A. 26:2H-128 and related regulations, unlawfully interfere with its federal obligations under its BOP contract and therefore violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The facility sought a declaration that state rules should not apply where they conflict with federal law governing inmate care.
The Department of Health moved to dismiss the complaint in its entirety, but U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi ruled the state was only partially successful. The court granted dismissal on some claims but allowed Sinai’s central preemption challenge to move forward, leaving open the possibility of further litigation over how state regulations can be enforced against facilities treating federal inmates.
The decision ensures that the clash between federal prison healthcare contracts and state nursing home oversight will continue in court.
