Problems Persist Inside 'Third World' Sunset Park Prison: Attorney

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A number of the female inmates at MDC Brooklyn, a federal prison in Sunset Park drawing headlines for its allegedly "unconscionable" conditions, have been transferred to a Connecticut facility, but serious problems within the prison remain, according to an attorney representing a woman previously held there.

The conditions inside MDC, located at 80 29th St., first drew attention at an October hearing, when Judge Cheryl L. Pollak said they "wouldn’t surprise me if we were dealing with a prison in Turkey or a Third World Country," as reported by the New York Daily News.

At the time, Pollak was deciding where to send Ana Espinal, a woman accused of violating her parole after pleading guilty to importing cocaine in 2011.

Pollak initially wouldn't send Espinal to MDC, referencing a June report written by four members of the National Association of Women Judges about the prison.

The judges described an "unconscionable" situation for women there, stating that 161 female inmates were being held in two large rooms, without proper access to sunlight, fresh air, outside exercise, prison programs or medical care, among other problems.

The news was alarming enough that in October, Sunset Park Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which runs the facility, and MDC Brooklyn asking for an explanation.

Pollak initially ordered a hearing to take place on Oct. 27, at which lawyers from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, which covers Brooklyn, and from the BOP were supposed to speak to the prison's conditions.

That hearing was subsequently delayed until Dec. 15, after government lawyers said they needed more information from Espinal's attorneys, court records show. The government also challenged whether three of the judges who wrote the June report should be required to testify.

In the meantime, Espinal violated additional conditions of her parole, and was sent to MDC, according to her attorney, Steve Zissou.

But on Dec. 12, Zissou was able to secure her bail, pending a February status hearing, documents show.

Until then, Zissou said that he will continue monitoring the conditions inside the facility. Part of the issue, he said, and as noted in the initial June report, stems from the fact that some of the women in MDC were transferred there from a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut that shut down in December, 2013.

But Zissou said Wednesday that the Danbury facility had been partially re-opened, and a certain number of MDC's inmates were transferred back there, though he didn't say how many.

Asked about the other problematic conditions written about by the judges, however, Zissou said, "None of those have improved."

Female inmates are still being held in a large communal room, he said, with "nothing to do" and little sunlight.

The transfers had resulted in "some improvement" for the inmates, he said, adding that, "We're hopeful that [the situation] continues to move in the right direction."

If conditions don't improve, Zissou said, he plans on bringing the matter before Judge Pollak prior to February, when Espinal could be sent back to the prison.

A spokesperson for MDC could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Pictured at top: MDC Brooklyn. Image via Google Maps.