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No Heat for Days at a Jail in Brooklyn Where Hundreds of Inmates Are Sick and 'Frantic'
Source: New York Times
No Heat for Days at a Jail in Brooklyn Where Hundreds of Inmates Are Sick and ‘Frantic’
By Annie Correal
Feb. 1, 2019
More than a thousand inmates have been stuck in freezing cells at a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront that has had limited power and heat for at least this week, according to federal public defenders and leaders of the union representing the jail’s corrections officers.
“They just stay huddled up in the bed,” said June Bencebi, a case manager at the jail and the treasurer of the local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 500 corrections officers at the jail.
The jail, the Metropolitan Detention Center, houses more than 1,600 inmates and lies in an industrial swath near the waterfront in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Some inmates are linked to high-profile drug trafficking and terrorism cases, while others are comparatively anonymous New Yorkers awaiting trial.
The accounts of conditions at the jail were described to The New York Times by six lawyers and paralegals with local Federal Defenders offices, who had spoken with around three dozen inmates at M.D.C.; two union leaders; and an employee at the jail who was not authorized to speak publicly.
-snip-
By Annie Correal
Feb. 1, 2019
More than a thousand inmates have been stuck in freezing cells at a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront that has had limited power and heat for at least this week, according to federal public defenders and leaders of the union representing the jail’s corrections officers.
“They just stay huddled up in the bed,” said June Bencebi, a case manager at the jail and the treasurer of the local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 500 corrections officers at the jail.
The jail, the Metropolitan Detention Center, houses more than 1,600 inmates and lies in an industrial swath near the waterfront in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Some inmates are linked to high-profile drug trafficking and terrorism cases, while others are comparatively anonymous New Yorkers awaiting trial.
The accounts of conditions at the jail were described to The New York Times by six lawyers and paralegals with local Federal Defenders offices, who had spoken with around three dozen inmates at M.D.C.; two union leaders; and an employee at the jail who was not authorized to speak publicly.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/nyregion/mdc-brooklyn-jail-heat.html
______________________________________________________________________
Source: Associated Press
Inmates at New York City jail without heat or light for days, attorneys say
Associated Press in New York
Sat 2 Feb 2019 13.29 GMT
Hundreds of inmates at a federal jail in New York City have spent days in cold, dark cells, in frigid weather and without access to visitors or email, attorneys for the inmates said on Friday.
Lawyers from the Federal Defenders office said there has been limited electricity, heat and hot water at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn at least since a fire at the facility on Sunday. They said all recreational activities as well as visits from lawyers and family members have been canceled.
The lack of heat and power at the jail was first reported in The New York Times. A spokeswoman for Herman Quay, the jail’s warden, told the Times in an email the building experienced a partial power outage on Saturday, but she denied that it had affected heat and hot water in the jail’s housing units.
The jail’s website says: “All visiting at this facility has been suspended until further notice.”
“My understanding is they’re fully locked down in their dark cells,” said Dierdre von Dornum, the lead federal defender in Brooklyn.
-snip-
Associated Press in New York
Sat 2 Feb 2019 13.29 GMT
Hundreds of inmates at a federal jail in New York City have spent days in cold, dark cells, in frigid weather and without access to visitors or email, attorneys for the inmates said on Friday.
Lawyers from the Federal Defenders office said there has been limited electricity, heat and hot water at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn at least since a fire at the facility on Sunday. They said all recreational activities as well as visits from lawyers and family members have been canceled.
The lack of heat and power at the jail was first reported in The New York Times. A spokeswoman for Herman Quay, the jail’s warden, told the Times in an email the building experienced a partial power outage on Saturday, but she denied that it had affected heat and hot water in the jail’s housing units.
The jail’s website says: “All visiting at this facility has been suspended until further notice.”
“My understanding is they’re fully locked down in their dark cells,” said Dierdre von Dornum, the lead federal defender in Brooklyn.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/02/inmates-new-york-city-jail-heat-light
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