Getty ImagesUnder normal circumstances, U.S. District Judge Gary J. Brown would have sent the man to a local federal prison to serve his sentence for tax evasion.
But one thing stopped him: “The dangerous and barbaric conditions that have existed for too long at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.”
The notorious prison, colloquially known as MDC, is once again in the spotlight because of its latest celebrity incarceration. Last week, a New York judge ordered that federal prosecutors detain Sean “Diddy” Combs on charges of sex trafficking, extortion and transportation to prostitution, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
High-profile defendants like Combs sometimes receive special protections when they are incarcerated, and the music mogul is reportedly being held in a section of the Brooklyn jail reserved for detainees requiring special protection.
According to local media reports, Combs is sharing a dorm-style room with Sam Bankman Freed, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who once ran a company worth billions of dollars but was convicted of multiple fraud charges in March.
And because it’s the only federal prison in New York City and handles many high-profile cases, the pair are just the latest in a long list of notable people to have passed through the facility, including rapper R. Kelly and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
But for many of the 1,200 inmates currently housed at the Brooklyn jail, it’s a different story.
In his August ruling, Judge Brown cited multiple cases where his fellow judges had hesitated to send defendants or inmates to prison because of their circumstances.
“Allegations of inadequate supervision, unrestrained violence and lack of adequate medical care are supported by a growing body of evidence, including irrefutable cases,” he said.
“There is chaos with violence that is out of control,” Judge Brown added. The ruling also included the case of a defendant who alleged he was stabbed multiple times but received no medical attention and spent 25 days in solitary confinement. The judge cited staffing shortages and worsening conditions following the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the prison to go on lockdown.
He noted that if the Bureau of Prisons decides to send a tax evasion defendant to MDC, the judge will revoke the defendant’s sentence.
A difficult history
MDC Brooklyn opened in the 1990s, but its problems go back many years.
In 2019, an electrical fire caused a power outage in the middle of winter, plunging the facility into darkness and extreme cold.
Then in June 2020, inmate Jamel Floyd died after being pepper-sprayed by a corrections officer. His family filed a lawsuit against the federal government. A Justice Department investigation concluded there was “insufficient evidence” that prison officials “engaged in administrative misconduct,” but acknowledged that the use of pepper spray violated regulations.
Judge Brown was not the only one to harshly criticize the facility.
In January, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan refused to send a man who pleaded guilty to a drug charge to the prison, citing unsafe conditions.
Judge Furman initially allowed Gustavo Chavez to await his sentence on probation, but ultimately allowed him to bypass the MDC and report directly to prison to serve his sentence.
In July, 36-year-old Edwin Cordero died from injuries sustained in a fight while serving his sentence at MDC.
“These factors combine to exacerbate the dire conditions in the facilities,” Andrew Darrack, a lawyer for both Cordero and Chavez, told the BBC: “Overcrowding, understaffing and a lack of political will to improve the conditions.”
Darak, a Brooklyn-based public defender, has represented many clients sent to MDC. “It’s a really scary place,” he said.
Following Cordero’s death, U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, whose district includes the Brooklyn facility, called for increased federal oversight to address “chronic understaffing, perpetual solitary confinement, and endemic violence.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which runs the facility, said in a statement that it “takes seriously its obligation to protect individuals in its custody and to keep corrections staff and the community safe.”
A department spokesman said it had formed an emergency response team to address the MDC issues and noted ongoing efforts to bring on more staff and address the backlog of maintenance requests.
A February 2024 report by Darach’s U.S. attorney’s office blamed the overcrowding problem on the closure of a troubled sister facility in Manhattan that the government closed in 2021, two years after Jeffrey Epstein died in custody.
They also said the presence of drugs and other contraband contributed to a dangerous atmosphere at the facility.
The federal facility holds people who have been convicted of crimes, but a significant number of the detainees are awaiting trial in the city’s federal courts and have not yet been found innocent or guilty.
The situation placed a strain on Darracq’s clients, who were already facing the possibility of longer incarceration.
“No one should have to be completely stripped of their humanity when their lives and freedoms are at risk,” he said. “MDC Brooklyn has a way of really breaking people down and making them feel less than human.”
