Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn

Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn
Location 80 29th St
Brooklyn, New York, 11232
Status Operational
Security class Administrative facility (all security levels)
Population 980
Managed by Federal Bureau of Prisons

The Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn (MDC Brooklyn) is a United States federal administrative detention facility in Brooklyn, New York City which holds male and female prisoners of all security levels. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.

Most prisoners held at MDC Brooklyn have pending cases in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. MDC Brooklyn also holds prisoners serving brief sentences.[1]

History

MDC Brooklyn opened in the early 1990s over opposition from neighbors and local elected officials.[2] Critics feared that the facility, with its staff, inmates, visitors, and supply deliveries, would overburden neighborhood traffic and water and sewer systems.[3]

It was built to hold 1,000 inmates awaiting arraignment or trial at the federal court in the Eastern District of New York.[2]

In 1999, a second facility was opened adjacent to the original complex to house inmates who have already been sentenced and are awaiting transfer to a permanent facility. This brought the total number of inmates to close to 3,000 and made MDC Brooklyn the largest detention center in the United States.

In June 2015, a lawsuit filed in 2002 against high-ranking Bush Administration officials, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former F.B.I. Director Robert S. Mueller III, brought by eight, mostly Muslim immigrant detainees, was allowed to go forward by a three-judge federal panel. It alleged that the plaintiffs were subject to chronic arbitrary abuses including beatings, strip searches and solitary confinement. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision included one dissent.[4]

Notable incidents

Ronell Wilson

On February 5, 2013, New York media outlets reported that Nancy Gonzalez, a former federal correction officer, had engaged in a sexual relationship with Ronell Wilson, an inmate at MDC Brooklyn, and that Gonzalez was carrying Wilson's child. Wilson, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2007 for the 2003 murders of NYPD Detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin, was awaiting a resentencing hearing in Brooklyn federal court after his original death sentence was overturned in 2010, when he began a relationship with Gonzalez. Gonzalez was terminated and arraigned in federal court on charges of sexual abuse of a person in custody, because an inmate cannot legally consent to sex.[5][6] Wilson was subsequently transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Gonzalez pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual abuse of a ward on July 3, 2013 and faces up to 16 months in prison at her sentencing, currently scheduled for October 7, 2013.[7]

Wilson was sentenced to death again on September 10, 2013. During the hearing, US District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis called for a formal investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general into the management of MDC Brooklyn, where, he said, Mr. Wilson was “permitted to treat the MDC as his own private fiefdom.”[8]

Inmate assault

On June 29, 2009, Ronald Atkinson, an inmate at MDC Brooklyn who had been arrested in connection with six bank robberies twelve days earlier, committed an unprovoked assault on a correctional counselor, punching him in the head multiple times until he was restrained by correctional officers. As a result of the assault, the counselor, whom the Bureau of Prisons did not identify, suffered serious injuries, including a broken nose, broken facial bones, a fractured eye socket, a laceration requiring stitches and two slipped discs in his neck. An 18-year veteran of the Bureau of Prisons, the counselor was forced to take a medical retirement as a result of his injuries.[9]

Atkinson was subsequently sentenced to 7 years in federal prison for the bank robberies. On July 19, 2013, he was sentenced to an additional 12 years in prison in connection with the assault. Atkinson is scheduled for release in 2031.[10]

Notable inmates (current and former)

Inmate Name Register Number Status Details
Sabirhan Hasanoff 75730-083 Serving an 18-year sentence; scheduled for release in 2026. Pleaded guilty in 2013 to providing material support for terrorism for sending remote-controlled bomb detonators and funneling approximately $67,000 to Al-Qaeda operatives abroad, as well as performing surveillance at the New York Stock Exchange for a possible attack.
Linda Weston 68897-066 Serving a life sentence.[11] Indicted in 2013 for murder, racketeering, hate crimes and other charges for leading a group who held mentally disabled individuals against their will between 2001 and 2011 in order to steal their Social Security benefits, two of whom died as a result of abuse.[12][13]
Abid Naseer 05770-748 Currently awaiting trial. Alleged Al-Qaeda operative; extradited from the United Kingdom in 2012 to face charges that he took part in an international conspiracy to conduct bombings in the United States and Europe; three co-conspirators were convicted in 2010 and 2012.[14]
Al Sharpton 21458-069 Served 90 days at MDC Brooklyn in 2001. Baptist minister, political activist and current MSNBC television host; convicted of trespassing on federal property for protesting against the US military presence on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.[15]
Megan Rice 88101-020 Released from custody on April 16, 2015. Anti-nuclear activist and Roman Catholic nun; convicted in 2013 of sabotage for unlawfully entering the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalizing a facility housing weapons-grade uranium.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "MDC Brooklyn". Federal Bureau of Prisons.
  2. 1 2 Prial, Frank J. (February 6, 1991). "Jail Is Planned For Brooklyn, And Foes Rise". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  3. ↑ Lambert, Bruce (December 19, 1993). "Lambert, Bruce, "U.S. to Open Jail, Despite Snags"". The New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  4. ↑ Immigrants' Lawsuit Over Post 9/11 Detention Is Revived, New York Times, Adam Liptak, June 17, 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Secret, Mosi (February 5, 2013). "Impregnated by Prisoner, Guard Now Faces Charges". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Marzulli, John (February 5, 2013). "Convicted cop killer Ronell Wilson impregnanted female guard in twisted plan to avoid death penalty". New York Daily News. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Hays, Tom (July 3, 2013). "Nancy Gonzalez, New York Jail Guard, Admits To Affair With Convicted Cop Killer Ronell Wilson". Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  8. ↑ Secret, Mosi (September 10, 2013). "For the Second Time, a Killer of Two Detectives Is Sentenced to Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Defendant Sentenced to 151 Months’ Imprisonment for Assaulting Correctional Counselor at the Metropolitan Correctional Center". Federal Bureau of Investigation. July 19, 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  10. ↑ "Inmate Locator - Ronald Atkinson". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  11. ↑ Ellis, Ralph (November 6, 2015). "Woman sentenced to life in prison for holding disabled people captive". Cable News Network. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "Philadelphia "Basement of Horrors": 5 charged in hate crime, murder of mentally disabled victims". CBS News. January 24, 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "Federal charges allege captors held adults with disabilities in subhuman conditions to carry out social security fraud". US Department of Justice. January 23, 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  14. ↑ Secret, Mosi (January 3, 2013). "Pakistani in Terror Case Is Extradited to New York". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  15. ↑ Feuer, Alan (June 12, 2001). "Sleeker by 14 Pounds, Sharpton Fights On". NYTimes.com. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  16. ↑ "Three Individuals Convicted of Sabotage at the Y-12 National Security Complex Sentenced". Federal Bureau of Investigation. February 19, 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  17. ↑ Reuters (February 18, 2014). "Tennessee: Nun Is Sentenced for Peace Protest". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 April 2014.

External links

Coordinates: 40°39′37″N 74°00′16″W / 40.66028°N 74.00444°W / 40.66028; -74.00444

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