TRENTON â Mercer Countyâs controversial long-distance incarceration plan still remains a pipe dream. The all-Democratic political machines in Mercer and Hudson counties ramrodded an inmate-transfer deal in October 2019 ordering most of Mercer Countyâs high-risk offender population to be jailed at the Hudson County Correctional Center in the North Jersey town of Kearny beginning Jan. 1, 2020, but the plan remains in limbo following a court challenge. Morris County Assignment Judge Stuart A. Minkowitz on Dec. 24, 2019, granted a preliminary injunction blocking the shared services agreement between Mercer and Hudson counties from going into effect. The plan remains on ice pending the outcome of prolonged litigation.