The Warden is a liar. He claimed the outage didn't affect heat in the hot water but yet the prison is in lockdown and no one is allowed to visit the facility. The mere fact that a number of public defenders and Union officials have leaked the story.... yeah liar.

Thanks for doing this!

and 'remind' them of their obligations.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment is forbidden by the Constitution.

I know you are a lawyer and have some insights that others might not. Here is the contact page for the Bureau of Prisons.

https://www.bop.gov/contact/

However, they do not give an email to Hurwitz, who is the acting director of Federal Bureau of Prisons:


https://www.bop.gov/about/agency/bio_dir.jsp

I am going to call on Monday.

I actually worked in the 'field,' which resulted in me deciding to go to law school. Legal aid office I worked at took prisoner cases to the Supreme Court (RATHER inspiring!) so wish I could contact my supervisor, who grew up in NYC and likely saw the story in the Times.

City jails are operated by either the local PD or Sheriff department...

'More than a thousand inmates have been stuck in freezing cells at a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront that has had limited power and heat for at least this week, according to federal public defenders and leaders of the union representing the jail’s corrections officers. . .

In an emailed statement, the federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that the jail was “experiencing a partial power outage” and operating on emergency power. “Cells have heat and hot water, there is lighting in the common areas and inmates are receiving hot meals,” the agency said.'

Since she is from NY and is running for President.

I would also contact De Blasio and Corey Johnson. I know it is out of their jurisdiction, but they might be able to get people in there.

Looks like Johnson has been there: https://mobile.twitter.com/CoreyinNYC/status/1091471658655846402

Let her show us what she's made of.

Menendez, Booker, and our new representative replacing that total waste of time Rodney Frelinguhuysen. Mikie Sherrill.

It only took a short time and it was interesting to look at the different sites of my representatives. I've not written letters in a while.

I asked them to directly intervene and contact the prison personally NOW.

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) Tweeted:
Protesters demanded answers outside Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn, on Saturday after workers and inmates say they went days without heat and hot water during a week of freezing temperatures.

@KathyParkNBC reports: https://t.co/jjOavJHesv

Link to tweet

Last edited Sun Feb 3, 2019, 06:31 PM - Edit history (1)

but what was really disturbing is that the news media contacted the "people in charge" who said this was the first they'd heard there was a problem.

WHAT?!!!

Mayor DeBlasio got involved. Here's what he tweeted last night at 7 p.m.

New York City is sending trucks with hundreds of blankets and hand warmers to the Metropolitan Detention Center NOW and generators are being readied for transport. We've told the Federal Bureau of Prisons the supplies are coming – whether they like it or not.



Earlier in the day, Jerry Nadler demanded that the contractors who were working on the heat get back on the job. Imagine that: they had left for the weekend without finishing the job. Who could do such a thing? Sixteen hundred people are in those conditions and you think you can go home for the weekend?



on edit: here are two quotes from Jerry Nadler that appeared in a story in The Intercept:

A number of people incarcerated at Metropolitan Detention Center have a medical condition called sleep apnea and without functioning medical equipment they run the risk of a stroke, Nadler said. “When I said to the warden, how many people do you have with CPAP machines, he said he didn’t know. I said, ‘Did you know there was a problem?’ He said, ‘No one raised it to me until now.’ Basic medical conditions are being ignored.”

Prison officials are in no rush to improve the situation, he said. “In an emergency condition, they are so eager to solve this condition that the contractors have left for the day and won’t be back until Monday.” Nadler said. “This shows the complete lack of urgency.”