Detainees Inside Freezing Brooklyn Prison Bang Windows as Protests Continue

Storyful
6 年前

Protesters again gathered outside Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday, February 3, calling for heat and electricity to be restored to the prison after an electrical fire the previous weekend.

Prisoners communicated with the protesters, banging on and shouting out windows.

Pepper spray was used on several people, including journalists and media personality Yandy Smith, outside the prison on Sunday.

The jail, which is operated by the federal government, holds more than 1,600 inmates, according to The New York Times. By Sunday, the prison had been operating with limited heat and power for six days amid freezing temperatures.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Saturday that the city’s emergency management office had “delivered generators, blankets and hand warmers” to the prison. “The people inside have a right to dignity and safety and we won’t stand by while the Federal Bureau of Prisons fails them,” the mayor said.

According to the Associated Press, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said power and heat would be fully restored on Monday. Credit: Justice League NYC via Storyful