Archive | BOP

The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General released a report on the electrical fire and ensuing power outage at the MDC Brooklyn last winter.  You can access the report here.

There were significant heating issues at the MDC, but these were unrelated to the fire.  Turns out, there are “long-standing temperature regulation issues,” which caused temperatures to drop as low as 59 degrees one week before the fire, and to rise over 80 degrees.  The MDC’s management did not effectively address heating during the power outage.  It also failed to address certain medical issues, namely, inmates who used CPAP machines, or provide an alternative means of making medical requests once the standard electronic request method was unavailable during the power outage.

If you have a client who was at the MDC during the outage, this report may be useful at sentencing.  If you have clients who were at …

Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a story on the state of care, and lack of care, for women detained at the MDC in Brooklyn.  In particular, it highlighted the stories of pregnant women, including one who lost her baby while in custody.  The article notes that “[t]he treatment of women, pregnant and otherwise, at the Metropolitan Detention Center has alarmed a number of judges.”

You can read the entire article here.

You can read our earlier post on the issue here.

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Eastern District Judge Cheryl Pollak has scheduled a hearing on the conditions of confinement, particularly for women, at the MDC.

For years, lawyers have raised issues about the conditions of confinement in general and the conditions of confinement for women in particular.  As reported in today’s New  York Daily News, the National Association of Women Judges has conducted official visits to the MDC and found “abysmal conditions faced by female prisoners, including a lack of fresh air and sunlight, no air conditioning during the heatwave, rotten food and insufficient medical care.”  You can read more about the case and Judge Pollak’s comments here.

Steve Zizzou and Sally Butler, counsel representing the defendant at the October 27th hearing, are looking for individuals who have information regarding the conditions at the MDC, particularly regarding the lack of medical care and serial sexual and other abuse.  Information can be given on a …