Hearing on 'Third World' Sunset Park Prison Delayed Until Dec. 15

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Judge Cheryl L. Pollak has delayed a scheduled Oct. 27 hearing on conditions inside MDC Brooklyn, a federal prison in Sunset Park, until Dec. 15, court documents show.

As originally reported by the New York Daily News, Pollak ordered the hearing after raising concerns over the conditions faced by female inmates inside the prison, located at 80 29th St.

A June report authored by four members of the National Association of Women Judges described an "unconscionable" situation inside the facility. A total of 161 female inmates, some of whom had been transferred from a shuttered Connecticut facility, are being held in two larges rooms, the report said, without adequate access to sunlight, fresh air, medical care or prison programming.

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

The report led Sunset Park Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez to send a letter in October to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and MDC Brooklyn asking for an explanation.

But it also prompted Pollak to delay sending Ana Espinal — accused of violating the terms of her parole after pleading guilty in 2011 to cocaine importation — to the facility, until the government could address its conditions.

Pollak reportedly ordered representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, which is prosecuting Espinal, and from the Bureau of Prisons to attend the planned Oct. 27 hearing.

But this month, officials from both the DOJ and the United States Office of Court Administration (OCA) asked for the hearing to be delayed.

As summarized in Pollak's delay order, in an Oct. 24 letter, the DOJ argued that Espinal's attorneys hadn't provided an adequate list of inmates and experts who would speak about conditions inside the prison.

Additionally, Espinal's attorneys had called three of the judges who authored the MDC Brooklyn report to testify on Oct. 27 as well. In a separate Oct. 24 letter, the OCA asked for that subpoena to be rendered moot.

The OCA letter stated that the judges "were not acting in their judicial capacity in authoring the Report."

"Indeed, it is a fortunate fact that judges, like all lawyers, frequently volunteer their time and energy on matters of professional interest," the letter continued. "However, in the absence of a compelling demonstration of need, those voluntaristic activities should not subject them to the threat of deposition, hearing, or trial appearances as third-party fact witnesses to persons seeking — explicitly or implicitly — to benefit from the judicial title."

"In light of the concerns that have arisen," Pollak ordered on Oct. 24, "the Court hereby adjourns the evidentiary hearing...to afford the government an opportunity to review the proposed testimony, and to allow the witnesses an opportunity to be heard as to whether they should be compelled to testify."

Related documents:

1) OCA letter:

2) DOJ letter:

3) Pollak's delay order:

Pictured at top: MDC Brooklyn. Image via Google Maps.