Freezing Inmates Desperate for Heat at Federal Detention Center in Brooklyn

More than a thousand people incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., say they have been locked in freezing cells for a week. Activists and inmates’ family members gathered outside the federal facility on Saturday to demand humane conditions.

A power outage has left the jail’s more than 1,600 inmates to endure this week’s brutal cold snap without light or heat. Because they are also without computers, inmates have been unable to contact loved ones, renew medical prescriptions or email attorneys for help. Jail cells do not have electrical power, according to federal defender Deirdre von Dornum, who visited the facility on Friday night. Inmates are also not being let into common areas.

“In the past hour I have gotten 11 calls,” said Rachel Bass, a paralegal with the Federal Defenders of New York. She said people were experiencing congestion. “People are frantic. They’re really, really scared. They don’t have extra blankets. They don’t have access to the commissary to buy an extra sweatshirt.” (There was not enough electricity for the commissary to be open.)

“The pitch black has made it significantly more agonizing for them,” von Dornum said.

Rally outside MDC Brooklyn, where we first reported poor heating and a power issue that has kept inmates confined to cold cells without lights since Sunday. Inmates pound windows as a brass band plays and people chant outside. pic.twitter.com/5FMGQpSpaF

— Annie Correal (@anniecorreal) February 2, 2019

The scene outside MDC Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/bkxSkAozZS

— Gideon Orion Oliver (@gideonoliver) February 2, 2019

This mother has not heard from her son since Wednesday – he is caged waiting for a trial with new babies at home. These are our people inside being treated less than human. This is a stain and a shame on our nation. #MDC #letthemfree pic.twitter.com/aykPMlNGKt

— Katie Unger