Fed up with cold jail
Unclear if fed lockup will keep inmates warm this winter
Officials at the Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn are still stone cold.
Ten months after the federal lockup lost heat for days and became a freezing nightmare, top administrators are sending mixed messages about whether inmates will receive warm clothing ahead of winter.
The uncertainty about preparations at MDC was revealed during a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing on Oct. 17.
Bureau of Prisons Director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer (inset right) told Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler that warm gear was on the way for 1,700 inmates at the jail on the Sunset Park waterfront.
“We’re giving them plenty of blankets, plenty of warm clothing and we’re giving them a coat, just in case,” Sawyer
said.
“God forbid this occur again but if it does we should be much better prepared to deal with it.”
Only an hour later in the same hearing, the executive director of the Federal Defenders of New York, David Patton, said that was “plain incorrect.”
MDC Associate Warden Andy Cruz had told Patton and others in a meeting two days prior that the lockup would only be getting some warm clothes for use in case of an emergency. The jail would not be giving every inmate clothing, Patton (above) recalled the official saying.
“The answer I got was, ‘No, we’re not going to do that. That will not become part of the standard issue. We will buy extra sets (of warm clothes) in case we have an emergency,” Patton said.
“That sounds like a small thing until you sit in a 60degree cell in paper-thin short-sleeve scrubs.”
On Jan. 27, an electrical fire knocked out power in parts of the jail. The outage lasted a week and sparked protests. Inmates allegedly endured lengthy lockdowns, no light, frigid conditions, poor food and inadequate medical care. First-hand accounts from the jail during the blackout were the stuff of nightmares. One prisoner with colitis bled on bedsheets in a dark cell as a senior jail official stood by “indifferently,” a federal defender testified. Other inmates had untreated open wounds. Another told a federal judge touring the jail he’d taken a noose out of his suicidal cellmate’s hand.
A report by a Department of Justice watchdog released last month found that the heating problems existed long before the fire and criticized jail administrators for failing to manage the crisis and communicate with the public.
“MDC Brooklyn should add thermal underwear, sweatsuits, or other coldweather clothing to its list of standard-issue attire,” the
DOJ’s Office of Inspector General recommended.
The Bureau of Prisons backed up Sawyer’s statements to Congress, but did not respond to questions about the mixed messages. The agency has been under heightened scrutiny since multimillionaire pervert Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide behind bars at nearby Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
“MDC Brooklyn ordered more than enough coldweather clothing (i.e., thermal wear, coats, and winter hats) to outfit every inmate in their facility. This supply of inventory is scheduled to arrive soon and will be issued to inmates upon receipt. Additionally, an entirely separate supply of cold-weather clothing, to include blankets, is being ordered as backup inventory to have on hand in case of an emergency, or for any other reason inmates need more clothing,” the BOP said.