Feds hunt for loaded gun at B’klyn lockup
For nearly a week, the feds have searched Brooklyn’s federal jail for a loaded gun, an agency official said Monday.
The federal Bureau of Prisons learned last Tuesday that a firearm may have been smuggled into Sunset Park’s Metropolitan Detention Center, spokeswoman Kristie Breshears said. A gun has not been found.
“The [prisons agency] received critical information that a firearm may have been introduced into the Metropolitan Detention Center,” Breshears said.
A special operations team searched the jail, ransacking cells and checking inmates and correctional officers alike, two sources told the Daily News. Legal visits with inmates were suspended last week. Breshears said “the search is ongoing,” but defense attorneys said legal visits have since resumed.
It was the second time in less than a year that the jail was placed on “modified operations” over a report of a firearm smuggled into the facility. The waterfront lockup received an influx of inmates in October after the Justice Department shut down its troubled sister jail, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center went into an eight-day lockdown in March 2020 that ended when the feds found a loaded handgun in a housing unit at the 12-story jail. A correction officer has pleaded not guilty to obstructing an investigation into the smuggled gun.
Defense lawyer Kenneth Montgomery, who represents inmates held at the Brooklyn lockup, suspected jail staff had a role in smuggling the latest firearm, if one is found.
“Obviously if you’re talking about a handgun in a federal facility, that’s not something that inmates would be able to bring in,” said Montgomery. “The [jail] has some systemic problems like most American institutions that they need to really address.”
Reps for the correctional officers union did not immediately return inquiries.
The Metropolitan Detention Center (below) houses numerous wellknown inmates, including disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly, as well as Epstein-enabler Ghislaine Maxwell. The jail also holds Frank James, the accused N train subway shooter.