Federal Judge Appalled by 'Third World' Brooklyn Prison

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A federal judge has ordered a hearing on what she called "third world" conditions inside Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Brooklyn, a federal prison located at 80 29th St. along the Sunset Park waterfront, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

Judge Cheryl L. Pollak reportedly made her comments during a hearing for Ana Espinal, who is accused of multiple parole violations — and even refused to send Espinal to the prison until federal officials address the conditions within.

“Some of these conditions wouldn’t surprise me if we were dealing with a prison in Turkey or a Third World Country," Pollak said, according to the News. "It’s hard for me to believe it's going on in a federal prison.”

Pollak's comments followed a June report issued by the National Association of Women Judges which found "unconscionable" conditions for women being housed in the facility.

The report was based on observations made by three judges who visited MDC in March 2015, and again on June 3 of this year.

According to the judges, 161 women are crammed into two large rooms inside MDC.

"There are no windows so there is no fresh air or sunlight," the report said. "The women are in the room 24/7, with no opportunity for outside exercise."

"One woman said the air was bad and that granules fell from the ceiling so that she is constantly cleaning off her bed which is a top bunk," the report continued. "Several women said the place had been fixed up for our visit to look better than it did regularly."

MDC offers 12 programs focused on trauma and addiction, the judges found, but "none of the women expressed any interest or knowledge about the programs — and "most of the women said they had never heard of them."

In 2015, the judges said, MDC inmates expressed some hope that conditions would improve. But during the 2016 visit, they wrote, the prisoners "were almost universally less hopeful for change about the conditions of confinement at MDC. Unlike 2015, when there seemed to be some energy in the group, the impression was that these women had all but given up hope that things would get better. The lethargy was almost palpable."

"The absence of fresh, clean air, the complete absence of sunlight, and the absence of ANY outdoor time and activities are immediate issues which [Bureau of Prisons] has failed to address in any meaningful fashion," the report concluded. "As noted in our prior report, these conditions violate the ABA Standards on Treatment of Prisoners and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners."

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

A secretary for Judge Pollak told Patch that the judge hadn't made a final decision about where to send Ana Espinal. That will be decided during an Oct. 27 hearing, the secretary said.

Pollak has reportedly ordered representatives from both the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, which covers Brooklyn, and from the Bureau of Prisons to appear at that hearing.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office told Patch on Friday that the office had no comment regarding MDC.

[Editor's note: an earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Judge Pollak.]

Pictured at top: MDC Brooklyn. Image via Google Maps