Brooklyn Inmates Can Sue City For 'Absolutely Atrocious' Jail Conditions, Judge Says

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, NY — The NYPD's notorious Brooklyn Central Booking facility on Schermerhorn Street, used to house recent arrestees while they wait to appear before a judge, will see its own day in court this summer for allegedly subjecting detainees to "unconstitutional" — and downright disgusting — conditions.

A lawsuit against the city and the NYPD on behalf of 20 Central Booking survivors was originally filed in 2013.

It was then shot down in 2015 by a Brooklyn federal judge, who opined that since the conditions at the holding facility hadn't seriously injured anyone or made them sick, and since detainees were generally held for less than 24 hours, the NYPD shouldn't be held responsible for its nastiness.

But Manhattan Judge John Koeltl overruled that decision in appeals court Tuesday — and didn't hide his disgust.

"Ultimately, the defendants’ theory appears to be that state officials are free to set a system in place whereby they can subject pretrial detainees awaiting arraignment to absolutely atrocious conditions for twenty-four hour periods (and perhaps more) without violating the Constitution so long as nothing actually catastrophic happens during those periods," the judge wrote.

"That is not the law," he wrote.

The original lawsuit claims Brooklyn Central Booking detainees were variously subjected to:

• Severely overcrowded cells infested with rodents and strewn with garbage, urine, feces and vomit
• "A small hard bench" in place of a bed, with no blankets
• Bright lights and loud noise that made it impossible to sleep
• Clogged, "effectively unusable" toilets (also covered in urine, feces and vomit)
• No toilet paper; no toiletries or sanitary supplies
• A lack of clean drinking water and edible food
• Extreme hot and cold temperatures in cells with no ventilation
• Unregulated fights, thefts and bullying between inmates

"We're just happy that my clients' position has been vindicated," attorney Richard Cardinale said Wednesday.

In the time since Cardinale drew up the original suit, he said Central Booking has been moved one block from 275 Atlantic Ave. to 120 Schermerhorn St.

To his knowledge, the attorney said, the new facility "started out much better than the old facility, but it got bad again."

"It's still inadequate," Cardinale said.

Attorneys from the city's Law Department will be arguing against Cardinale and his clients in court this summer.

A spokesman for the Law Department responded to the Manhattan judge's decision in a statement sent to Patch:

“The City moved [Brooklyn Central Booking] to a new facility years ago. While we believe that our summary judgment motion was properly granted, we are pleased that the court held that plaintiffs must still substantiate their allegations and that the trial court remains free to find for City after a fuller presentation of the evidence.”

Lead photo by Reading Tom/Flickr