SDNY
Judge Torres
Suspends
Hearing To Go
Visit Brooklyn
MDC Then May
Resume
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope
video, II
NEW YORK CITY,
February 5 – The conditions in
the Brooklyn MDC were the
subject of a hearing that
began at 11 am on February 5
before Judge Analisa Torres of
the the
US District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York. Then
after 3 pm and the
testimony of a
witness she
called, John
Ross of the
FBI, Judge Torres
suspended the
hearing to go
and visit the
MDC. She
was asked if
the press
could
accompany her.
No, she said.
Notice
would be given
if the hearing
would resume.
Ross of
the FBI
acknowledged
that things in cell 562
"seemed cool."
That coolness,
at approximately
50 degrees, was
linked by
another witness to
cell 723,
which also had
a leak. Some
inmates had
leaks directly
onto
their beds.
There was no
laundry, and
so they slept on
cold sheets, some
in the same
underwear
and socks all
week. Federal
Defenders
still had
their phone
lines
working, but
the "social
lines" which
are paid by
money in an
inmate's
commissionary
were out for the
week. This is
a problem, it was
explained, especially
for court
appointed
lawyers who already
have trust
problems with
their clients.
Dierdre
Dionysia von
Dornum of
Federal
Defenders
suggested to Judge Torres
that she
create a special
master for the
MDC, like the
Fed asked for
and got
for Rikers
Island.
Congress
member
Nidia
Velasquez
visited the
MDC but was told
she couldn't
talk to any
inmates,
allegedly
because of the
count. What
about the SHU,
the Special
Housing Unit,
where
there is no
count because
no one gets
out of their
cell? This
was not
explained.
Judge Torres went
to see for
herself. (An
intrepid
journalist
tweeted a
photo of Judge
Torres
going on,
here.) Watch
this site - and,
for now, this
interim
Periscope
video during
the break. Earlier,
inside the Daniel Patrick
Moynahan Federal Courthouse
entrance, the security line
snaked around, longer then
usual. First Periscope video here.
It made it difficult for
Inner City Press to get in and
still exit, retrieve electronics
and report. But report we shall.
Upcoming in the
SDNY is a just-filed complaint
by the Bangladesh Central Bank
for the $81 million hacking of
its funds, which were then
wired through the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, a case
that Inner City Press will
cover. Times change. Watch
this site.
***
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