The notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park has started taking in individuals taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with more than 100 now housed in the federal jail that also houses Sean “Diddy” Combs and alleged healthcare CEO-killer Luigi Mangione, according to the Daily News.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which had previously agreed to house immigrant detainees in five federal facilities, has expanded that number to eight, including MDC Brooklyn, according to an interagency agreement first reported by the Miami Herald.
Between 100 and 120 ICE detainees have already been placed in the jail’s “East Building,” and for the most part aren’t mingling with pretrial inmates accused of dangerous crimes, the News reported.
In a statement Wednesday, Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Emery Nelson confirmed to the News that the agency is assisting ICE by housing detainees.
“The BOP has entered an interagency agreement that allows ICE to place detainees in eight BOP facilities,” Nelson said. “These facilities include FDC Miami, FCI Atlanta, FCI Leavenworth, FDC Philadelphia, FCI Berlin, FDC Honolulu, FCI Lewisburg and MDC Brooklyn. For privacy, safety and security reasons, we do not comment on the legal status of an individual, nor do we specify the legal status of individuals assigned to any particular facility, including specific numbers of detainees.”
Expanding ICE detention to MDC is reckless and cruel, The Legal Aid Society said.
"Over the years, MDC has become synonymous with egregious neglect and abuse with the people incarcerated there having to suffer heating blackouts during winter, been served maggot-infested food, denied adequate medical care — including botched cancer diagnoses — and suffered fatal violence due to chronic understaffing," the group said in a statement. "We are deeply concerned that conditions will further deteriorate due to staffing shortages, restricted access to counsel, and the overcrowding of a facility already unequipped to meet even the most basic standards of care."
