Inmates have gone without heat and electricity for a week

Mevater

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 11:13 am

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2.....ghts/

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The federal Bureau of Prisons said Saturday that work to restore power to a detention center in New York City where inmates have gone without heat and electricity for a week will be completed by Monday.

A tense rally was held outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn following news reports that hundreds of inmates there have spent the past week largely without power or the ability to communicate with their attorneys or families.

They cant get workers to fix this immediately?

33055

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 1:22 pm

Mevater wrote:

Isnt there someone in NYC government, like the Mayor, who can say do it NOW???? Work on it immediately until its done.

It's a Federal Prison.

While the conditions aren't nice, your outrage should be directed towards prisons like Auburn where conditions are truly horrific day in and day out.

https://www.liberationnews.org.....rime/

southernbubby

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 1:39 pm

Joe Arpaio also ran prisons where Maricopa county spent millions in wrongful death settlements but the dangerous conditions remained. It will take lots of pressure on elected officials to change a horrible and abusive system. I am not sure why there is not more interest in this, despite taxpayers money being spent on settlements.

Mevater

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 1:56 pm

Squishy wrote:

It's a Federal Prison.

Whether the prison is federal, state, city, this prison is on NYC property, and its probably the Mayor who pulls the strings and probably has the most control over when utility companies and maintenance crews work overtime, and what gets fixed and how soon.

If not the Mayor, then who?

33055

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 2:16 pm

Mevater wrote:

The Federal Bureau of Prisons - BOP.

Mevater

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 3:01 pm

Squishy wrote:

The Federal Bureau of Prisons - BOP.

Well where have they been?

B"H I dont have any connection to any prisoners that Im aware of, but we all know a small percentage of those incarcerated are innocent. That has always bothered me.

33055

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 3:26 pm

vintagebknyc wrote:

There have been protests outside for days, Brad Lander was there last night. Not sure what's going to happen but it's horrifying.

Fed prison is normally like summer camp. What goes on in the state prisons day in and day out is truly horrifying.

crust

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 4:05 pm

Squishy wrote:

I was so angry when I read about the inmates without electricity but after reading this article, I just can't. This is horrendous. Where is everyone? Where are the Human Rights Activists?
I am so broken.

33055

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 4:27 pm

Mevater wrote:

Well where have they been?

B"H I dont have any connection to any prisoners that Im aware of, but we all know a small percentage of those incarcerated are innocent. That has always bothered me.

o

I can try to explain, but this is just conjecture.

With the fire destroying both the system and the back up system, it took some time to engineer the repair. They need engineers to access the problem. The problem also might be bigger than just the heating systems were disrupted. It seems the computers and phones were effected also.

There are security concerns at prisons that you don't have in office buildings.

33055

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 5:21 pm

crust wrote:

If you want to bleed for prisoners and get all dramatic, the situation at Auburn is much worse as they have no heat all winter because of the numerous broken windows. The water in the toilets freeze each night.

I don't know who provided the professional signage, but these same folks should be protesting the conditions in state prisons that continue year after year.

I feel bad the fed prisoners have to endure one week of bad conditions because of a fire, but the state prisoners suffer much worse and much longer.

33055

Sun, Feb 03 2019, 5:47 pm

causemommysaid wrote:

No they aren't. That's a stereotype

BH I have never been inside either one except for visiting rooms, but compared to the state facilities, they are like summer camp. That's according to people who have been inside. They call it club fed for a reason. The inmates have dorm facilities and no fences. There is zero violence in the prison camps.

Here is a typical camp facility:

FPC Montgomery

"The federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., is on Maxwell Air Force Base. While inmates can enjoy the music room, pool tables, and a craft room, Ellis says the best perk is the opportunity to work outside the prison camp. Inmates are employed as gardeners and landscapers on the military base. In fact, one of his clients once was a landscaper for the general’s house.

“The general’s wife would invite him in in the afternoon for lemonade and cookies,” Ellis said.

Prisoners can also take correspondence courses in business, psychology, art, music, and foreign language offered by Troy State University."

That's a far cry from what state inmates endure. They don't know if they will be killed on any given day. Fed maximum facilities are different, but I hear they are safer for the inmates. Fed time is easier than state.

imasoftov

Mon, Feb 04 2019, 6:07 am

There do exist federal "camps". Wikipedia writes "Federal prison camps (FPCs) are minimum-security facilities, which have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing. These institutions are work- and program-oriented. Many are located adjacent to larger institutions or on military bases, where inmates help serve the labor needs of the larger institution or base." On the other hand these are not the only sort of federal prisons, in addition to those there are high-security penitentiaries, medium- and low-security correctional institutions somewhere inbetween those two extremes, private correctional institutions, in 2016 the DOJ announced that they would be closed but that decision was reversed the following year, and administrative facilities, "institutions with special missions, such as the detention of pretrial offenders; the treatment of inmates with serious or chronic medical problems; or the containment of extremely dangerous, violent, or escape-prone inmates."

The Brooklyn facility appears to be one of the latter. It was built to hold inmates awaiting arraignment or trial at federal courts and was expanded to hold inmates who were sentenced and are awaiting transfer to another facility. It holds prisoners at all security levels. That link mentions "Activists and some New York officials became involved in seeking to improve conditions.", see the "Polar vortex and heating issues" section

33055

Mon, Feb 04 2019, 8:21 am

The relatives got pepper sprayed because they were pushing the guards outside of the prison. The ones I feel bad for are the guards. They have to worry about violence inside and outside the prison. Anyone who threatened or touched a guard should black balled from being allowed to visit. They should have been arrested.

Also, I don't think you could have given the prisoners flashlights. They would be used for violence especially in blackout conditions.