Inmates at a federal jail in Brooklyn have suffered for days without heat or power during a wintry cold snap, according to lawyers and U.S. lawmakers.
The crisis reached a head on Saturday as protesters rallied outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in the industrial waterfront section of Sunset Park, where inmates banged on the walls of the jail and flashed nightlights in a plea for help.
A fire last Sunday cut off power and heat to parts of the jail, according to motions filed this week in federal court by lawyers from the Federal Defenders who represent some of the inmates.
Since then, at least some of the more than 1,600 inmates at the jail have suffered in near-freezing temperatures and in darkness after the sun goes down while locked in their cells for 23 hours a day, according to the court filings.
Current inmates at the facility include Nxivm sex-cult leader Keith Raniere and accused jewelry thief mastermind Damir Pejcinovic, as well as MS-13 gang members and mafiosos – but the facility also holds those charged with lesser crimes and awaiting bail hearings or trial.
The crisis reached a head on Saturday as protesters rallied outside the Metropolitan Detention Center (above in file photo) in the industrial waterfront section of Sunset Park
Some of the more than 1,600 inmates at the jail have suffered in near-freezing temperatures and in darkness after the sun goes down while locked in their cells for 23 hours a day
Protesters attend a rally at Metropolitan Detention Center demanding that heat is restored for the inmates in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Saturday
A protester and a corrections officer are seen at the rally on Saturday protesting conditions
A fire last Sunday cut off power and heat to parts of the jail, according to motions filed this week in federal court by lawyers from the Federal Defenders
The federal Bureau of Prisons said Saturday that work to restore power to the jail will be completed by Monday – but public defenders and local elected officials say that the feds aren’t taking the situation seriously enough.
‘Inmates were wrapped head to toe in towels and blankets,’ Deirdre von Dornum, who oversees the Federal Defenders’ Brooklyn team, said in a telephone interview on Saturday, recounting her tour of the jail the day before.
‘Their windows were frosted over. Even more disturbingly perhaps for the inmates, their cells were pitch black and they don’t have flashlights.’
She said senior officials at the jail were ‘indifferent’ to the problems during her tour. The power problems have also meant inmates cannot easily call family or lawyers nor get any needed medication refilled, lawyers said.
Officials with the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents corrections officers at the jail, have confirmed the lawyers’ accounts of the jail conditions.
‘They’re just waiting for a disaster to happen,’ jail employee Rhonda Barnwell, who works in the facility’s medical station, told reporters Friday. ‘There’s only heat in the afternoons since we’ve been complaining today.’
Protesters attend a rally at Metropolitan Detention Center demanding that heat is restored for the inmates in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Saturday
Heat at the jail has been off for a week, but the feds say it will be restored on Monday
Telephone calls to the jail went unanswered on Saturday, and officials there and at the Federal Bureau of Prisons did not respond to email queries. A notice on the jail’s website said all visits have been suspended until further notice.
Officials at the jail and the Bureau of Prisons acknowledged a partial power outage in emails to the New York Times, which first reported the problems on Friday, but said the cells still had heat and hot water.
One inmate, Dino Sanchez, has only a short-sleeved jumpsuit, a T-shirt and a single standard-issue thin blanket to keep him warm, according to a court filing by his attorney.
Sanchez has asthma, which the cold has exacerbated, and fears collapsing in the dark without anyone noticing and coming to his aid, his lawyer wrote.
Nydia Velazquez, who represents parts of New York City in the U.S. House of Representatives, was one of the lawmakers who visited the jail on Saturday. She said the Bureau of Prisons was disregarding inmates’ rights.
Nydia Velazquez (second from right), who represents parts of New York City in the U.S. House of Representatives, was one of the lawmakers who visited the jail on Saturday
Elected officials address the crowd and media at a rally outside the jail on Saturday
‘This appalling situation needs to be fixed,’ she wrote on Twitter. She noted that some heat had been restored, but that the heating system was still ‘not at fully capacity’ and that staff at the jail were still complaining about the cold on Saturday.
Hugh Hurwitz, the Bureau of Prisons’ acting director, told lawmakers in telephone conversations he agreed that conditions in the jail were ‘unacceptable,’ according to Velazquez.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a brief statement that the conditions at the jail were unconstitutional and demanded an immediate fix.
Judge Analisa Torres ordered the Bureau of Prisons to produce witnesses at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to explain how the complaints raised by inmates’ lawyers were being addressed.
On Saturday night, New York City Mayor Bill de Balsio directed the city Emergency Management agency to deliver blankets, hand warmers and generators to the jail.
On Saturday night, officials working for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio oversaw and emergency delivery of blankets, hand warmers and generators to the federal facility
The NYC Emergency Management agency delivered the supplies to the jail on Saturday
De Blasio blasted the feds for inaction as his agency intervened with supplies for the jail
NYC city worker unload the emergency supplies for the inmates on Saturday
‘The people inside have a right to dignity and safety and we won’t stand by while the Federal Bureau of Prisons fails them. NYC stands ready to do all we can to help,’ de Blasio said in a statement.
The conditions at the jail drew condemnation from human rights advocates.
‘This is worse than countries that we denounce,’ the Rev. Al Sharpton said at his weekly rally. ‘This is disgraceful and inexcusable.’
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement, ‘It is shocking that the government would hold people for days on end in a dark, freezing jail during one of the coldest weeks in memory.’
Dozens of activists including a brass band rallied outside the jail Saturday. One group vowed to camp outside the facility until conditions improve.