Under normal conditions, US District Judge Gary J Brown would have sent the detainee to the local federal prison to serve his sentence for tax fraud.
But one thing stopped him: “The dangerous and savage conditions that have long existed at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.”
The famous prison, known as MDC, is once again in the spotlight due to its latest famous detainee: rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was held there after federal prosecutors accused him of sex trafficking, conspiracy and transportation to participate in acts of prostitution.
High-profile defendants sometimes receive special protection when incarcerated, and the music mogul is reported to be in a section of Brooklyn’s MDC for detainees with that condition.
According to local media, Combs shares a dormitory-style room there with cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.who once ran the multibillion-dollar firm FTX, but who in March was convicted of multiple fraud offenses.
And since it is New York City’s only federal prison, where many high-profile cases are processed, the couple is just the latest in a long list of notable names to have passed through the facility’s doors.
That list includes the rapper R Kelly and Ghislaine Maxwell, partner of billionaire convicted of sex trafficking Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein committed suicide precisely in a cell at the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Facility, sister to the MDC, where he was awaiting trial, in August 2019.
But for many of the 1,200 current inmates at Brooklyn MDC, the story is different.
In a ruling handed down last August, Judge Brown cited multiple cases of fellow jurists who hesitated to send defendants and convicts to that prison due to the precarious conditions in which it operates.
“Allegations of inadequate supervision, rampant assaults and lack of sufficient medical care are supported by a growing body of evidence, with certain cases being irrefutable,” he said.
“Chaos and uncontrolled violence reign”Judge Brown added.
His sentence included the case of a defendant who was stabbed several times, but who did not receive medical attention and was instead kept locked in his cell for 25 days.
The judge also mentioned staff shortages and worsening conditions following the Covid pandemic, which forced the jail to close.
The judge wrote that he would vacate the conviction of the man convicted of tax fraud if the Bureau of Prisons decided to send him to MDC.
A turbulent history
MDC Brooklyn opened in the 1990s and its problems are not current. They go back years.
In 2019, an electrical fire in the middle of winter caused a blackout that plunged the center into darkness and frigid conditions.
In June 2020, an inmate named Jamel Floyd died after being pepper-sprayed by prison officials. His family sued the federal government for his death.
A Justice Department review concluded there was “insufficient evidence” that prison authorities “committed an administrative offense,” but acknowledged that the use of pepper spray violated policy.
Judge Brown is not the only one who has harshly criticized the center.
In January, Judge Jesse Furman of U.S. District Court in Manhattan refused to send a man who had pleaded guilty in a drug case there because of his dangerous conditions.
After allowing the man, Gustavo Chávez, to await sentencing on supervised release, Judge Furman allowed him to bypass the MDC and report to the prison where he would serve his sentence.
In July, Edwin Cordero, 36, died after being injured in a fight while serving time at the MDC.
“The decrepit conditions are fueled by this kind of terrible confluence of circumstances,” Andrew Dalack, a lawyer for both Cordero and Chávez, told the BBC.
“Overcrowding, lack of personnel and little political will to fix the precarious state of the prison”.
As a public defender in Brooklyn, Dalack has represented numerous clients who have been referred to the MDC. “It’s a very scary place”he states.
Following Cordero’s death, U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, who represents the district in which downtown Brooklyn is located, called for greater federal oversight to address “chronic understaffing, perpetual isolation, and widespread violence.” .
The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the facility, said in a statement: “We take seriously our duty to protect those entrusted to our custody, as well as to maintain the safety of prison employees and the community. ”.
A spokesperson for the office noted the creation of an urgent action team, which is trying to address problems at MDC, and an ongoing effort to hire more staff and address a backlog of maintenance requests.
A February 2024 report by the Federal Defenders office, where Dalack works, attributed overcrowding problems to the closure of its troubled sister facility in Manhattan, which the government closed in 2021, two years after Jeffrey Epstein’s death in one of its cells.
They also stated that the presence of drugs and other contraband contributes to the center’s dangerous atmosphere.
The federal facility houses people who have already been convicted of a crime, but a substantial portion of its prison population is awaiting trial in the city’s federal courts and has not yet been found innocent or guilty.
The poor conditions there weighed on attorney Dalack’s clients, who were already facing the prospect of more permanent imprisonment.
“It should not be the case that, while your life and freedom are at stake, you have to be stripped of your humanity”, said.
“MDC Brooklyn has a way of breaking people down, and making them feel less than human.”
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