NYCLU Statement on Brooklyn Jail Without Heat or Light

NEW YORK- Individuals locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn have been forced to live with little or no heat, hot water, and electricity for the past week according to federal public defenders. In response to these inhumane conditions, the people inside sent out a desperate plea by repeatedly banging on their windows to bring attention to the situation.

The following statement is attributable to Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“It is shocking that the government would hold people for days on end in a dark, freezing jail during one of the coldest weeks in memory. People incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not forced to struggle to survive in dangerously freezing temperatures.  The federal government must fix the problem immediately and relocate the people they are holding at MDC until the jail is habitable — with adequate heat, hot water, and electricity.”