MDC detainees report inhumane conditions
BY JESSICA PARKS
Prison offi cials at the scandal
plagued Metropolitan Detention
Center in Sunset Park
have failed to properly handle
the spread of coronavirus, according
to past and present detainees
who blasted the prison’s
conditions as unsafe and inhumane.
“My husband is not crying
out to be released, he is crying
out because of the conditions
that are going on in there,” said
the wife of a current inmate, who
requested anonymity to speak
freely about her husband’s experience.
The prison made headlines
earlier this month when
35-year-old inmate Jamel Floyd
died after corrections offi cers
pepper-sprayed him in the face
— sparking a string of protests
outside of the facility, coinciding
with other demonstrations
against police brutality.
Last December, the detention
center also came under fi re
when a power outage forced 1,600
inmates to bear below-freezing
temperatures for an entire week,
leading to a probe by the federal
Department of Justice.
Now, sources claim that inmates
have been subjected to
“incredible” conditions inside
the facility — where staff force
detainees into near-constant
confi nement to their cells, and
have provided a troubling lack
of medical response to the virus.
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“I was locked in the cell basically
24 hours a day,” said former
inmate Gregory Cooper,
who was granted compassionate
release on April 30. “I was
allowed to come out for 30 minutes
a day, three times a week to
shower, use the phone and talk
with my attorneys — all within
a half-hour.”
In the short time inmates are
allowed outside of their cells,
Cooper said it’s impossible to
keep a social distance — leading
to the inevitable spread of the virus.
Prior to his release, at least
a dozen of his 80 fellow inmates
in his unit were showing signs
of the coronavirus.
“There is no social distancing,”
Cooper said. “When they
let everybody out for the 30 minutes,
everybody is congregating,
everybody is talking.”
Since imposing confi nement,
prison offi cials have canceled
the routine maintenance of cells
altogether, forcing inmates to
live in unsanitary conditions,
said the current inmate’s wife.
“He expresses how there is an
aroma coming from the toilets,”
she said. “There are no lids, and
they are not being cleaned.”
The woman also said that
the emergency button in her
husband’s cell is not working
properly — making her fear for
his safety, as he is asthmatic.
“I feel like that is something
that around this time should at
least work,” she said, adding
that the poor ventilation in her
husband’s cell is leading him
to have diffi culty breathing.
Six inmates at the detention
center took the matter to
court with a lawsuit on March
27, requesting oversight in the
facility’s pandemic response
and the release of inmates with
existing medical conditions —
however, a judge denied their
petition on June 10, and commended
the correctional offi -
cers’ “aggressive” response to
the virus.
“I conclude that petitioners
have not shown a clear likelihood
that MDC offi cials have
acted with deliberate indifference
to substantial risks in responding
to COVID-19,” wrote
federal Judge Rachel P. Kovner.
“Rather than being indifferent
to the virus, MDC offi cials
have recognized COVID-19 as a
serious threat and responded
aggressively.”
As part of the lawsuit, independent
examiner Dr. Homer
Venters, an epidemiologist and
former chief medical offi cer for
city jails, visited the center on
April 23 and found insuffi cient
amounts of masks and gloves,
along with a failure to implement
proper infection control
measures, according to court
documents.
In his report, Venters said
detainee’s sick calls were often
ignored, and when they were
answered, offi cials typically
only conducted a temperature
check.
Cooper echoed the lack of a
medical response inside the detention
center, claiming inmates
will ultimately die from the virus
before correctional offi cials
would consider their release.
“You could be dying, they
won’t let you go,” he said. “They
are not letting people go.”
Another inmate was reported
dead at the prison last
week, three weeks after he quietly
died of unknown causes on
May 19, according to the New
York Daily News.
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park. Federal Bureau of Prisons
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