Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

It’s Not Over: Brooklyn Inmates Still Without Heat

During the “polar vortex” this January, 1,600 prisoners in Brooklyn went without heat or water for days. After pressure from protesters and family members outside the prison, the Metropolitan Detention Center is beginning to address its inhumane conditions.

AJ Rio-Glick

February 5, 2019
Facebook Twitter Share
Image from Reuters/ Go Nakamura

As rapidly shifting climates have pitched much of the eastern United States into freezing temperatures, those incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (MDC) spent days without electricity and heat, resulting in near-freezing temperatures indoors. They also suffered from a shortage of appropriate supplies such as blankets and warm clothes, and were unable to refill prescriptions and eat hot food. The Bureau of Prisons admitted in a statement on Saturday that the jail experienced a “partial power outage due to a fire in the switchgear room” over a week ago. The jail lost power for the first time nearly a month ago on January 5th and then permanently on January 20, forcing inmates to live in temperatures below 40 degrees– which nonprofit Legal Aid Society says was “dangerous to human life.”

MDC houses over 1,600 inmates, including many who are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of any crimes. Inmates who were on lockdown in their dark cells banged on the walls in the hope of receiving attention and many huddled together in beds to remain warm.“In the past hour, I have gotten 11 calls. People are frantic. They’re really, really scared. They don’t have extra blankets. They don’t have access to the commissary to buy an extra sweatshirt,” paralegal Rachel Bass of Federal Defenders in Brooklyn said on Thursday.

04nyjail3-videosixteenbynine1050.jpg
Image by the New York Times.

MDC’s warden, Herman Quay, failed to address the situation with any urgency—instead the prison denied the dire and inhumane conditions in the prison. Inmates were not allowed to have contact with family; those who had contact with lawyers have reported illness as a result of unliveable temperatures.

It was the families who were instrumental in bringing attention to the plight of the prisoners. Over the weekend, hundreds of people began to rally at the MDC, setting up an occupation and creating a push for social media attention. As a direct result of these efforts, the lights were back on by Sunday evening, although heat was not entirely restored. There are still inmates without heat.

With phone lines overwhelmed, callers were eventually connected not to the warden but instead to an operator who spread lies about what was going on in the prison. One caller from Seattle was told, “to help your concern there is heat and hot water. We can’t take calls because we are trying to get things up and running. As a matter of fact it’s very hot.” The Bureau of Prisons similarly claimed in their statement on Saturday that cells had hot water at that time, as well as lighting in the common areas and hot meals for inmates, but frantic inmates communicating with federal defenders reported poor heating, little to no hot water, no lights in their cells and no hot food.

Hundreds rallied and protested outside of the prison over the weekend. Many of the protesters included family members of the incarcerated who are concerned that their family members are suffering through the current “Polar Vortex.” As protestors chanted outside, inmates could be seen in the windows, asking for help.

On Saturday, when a mother attempted to go inside, desperate to communicate with her son, she and other protestors were met with police pepper spray, showing once again that the police serve to protect, not the welfare of the people, but the interests of the ruling class and a prison system which makes billions of dollars in profit off of prisoners. Despite these clashes with the police, the resistance of the people inside and outside the prison pressured both politicians and prison authorities to get the lights back on in the prison Sunday night. Wyn Hornbuckle, the Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice released the following statement on Sunday night:
“The electrical power at the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility at MDC Brooklyn was restored at approximately 6:30 pm this evening. With the heat and hot water operational, and the restoration of electrical power, the facility can now begin to return to regular operations. In the coming days, the Department will work with the Bureau of Prisons to examine what happened and ensure the facility has the power, heat and backup systems in place to prevent the problem from recurring.”

Yet, people attending the protests outside of MDC on Monday disputed this claim, saying that heat had not been restored sectors of the building. A federal defender leaving the building admitted that the building is “structurally inadequate” and stated that the contractor in charge of fixing the electrical system left on Sunday, only to come back on Tuesday. Families were not allowed in to see their loved ones on Monday and many groups with connections to inmates are reporting abuse towards inmates by prison guards, especially those who spent the last few days banging on windows to communicate with protestors. Lawyers alone cannot fix this crisis; this cannot be resolved by addressing individual clients. The issue is the abusive and exploitative prison system.

Protesters have plans to occupy the entrance to MDC into the week and have set up a system to receive supplies from supporters, with protestors taking shifts to remain at the prison entrance at all hours of the day. A public hearing to address conditions at MDC took place on the morning of February 5th, with activists calling for people to “pack the court.” Groups such as Black and Pink and No New Jails NYC are calling for a larger discussion of prison abolition, and not just detainee welfare.

The lack of adequate heating for inmates in MDC comes in the midst of inmates in Chicago being forced to shovel snow in subzero temperatures, prisons in South Carolina neglecting to evacuate for Hurricane Florence, and prisoners in Northern California being paid $1 a day to fight wildfires that raged so viciously that entire towns were destroyed and residents in surrounding areas were forced to wear smoke-resistant masks. The prison system benefits from the oppression and mistreatment of millions of incarcerated people; only pressure from below forces it to act in even the most basic interests of prisoners like those still waiting for heat and supplies in MDC.

screen_shot_2019-02-04_at_3.30.28_pm.png

Facebook Twitter Share

United States

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024
Former president Donald Trump standing at a podium in front of American flags.

To Stop Trump, We Need Much More Democracy, Not Less

Democrats have been trying to kick Trump off the ballot as an "insurrectionist." Liberals say we have to restrict democracy in order to save it. As socialists, we think they have it backwards: to beat the Far Right, we need a mass movement fighting for radical democracy.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 18, 2024

New Jersey Democrats Attack the Public’s Right to Government Records

The New Jersey state assembly, led by the Democratic Party, just tried to fast-track a bill that would have gutted the Open Public Records Act. This is a reminder that their party is an obstacle, not an ally, in the fight to preserve democracy.

Samuel Karlin

March 15, 2024
President Biden giving his State of the Union speech at a podium in March, 2024.

Biden’s State of the Union: Hyper-Nationalism and Eroding Legitimacy

President Biden’s hyper-nationalistic State of the Union speech focused on selling himself as a defender of democracy at home and abroad. But it’s not enough to solve his — and the whole U.S. regime’s — crisis of legitimacy.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 14, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

Lord Balfour Was an Imperialist Warmonger 

We should give our full solidarity to the Palestine Action comrade who defaced a portrait of Arthur Balfour at Cambridge University. But the problem for everyone who opposes the genocide against Gaza is how to massify and politically equip the movement.

Daniel Nath

March 21, 2024