Notorious New York City jail, two other federal facilities, to receive ICE detainees
Three new federal correctional facilities were approved to house immigrant detainees this month – including a jail in New York City known for violent and poor conditions that has held high profile individuals such as Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
As the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign strains immigration centers nationwide, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been housing hundreds of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in jails and prisons following an interagency agreement in February.
Now the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the Federal Correctional Institution in Lewisburg, Pa., and the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu are joining the list, according to internal communication obtained by the Miami Herald. The expansion brings the total number of approved facilities under the agreement to eight.
Benjamin O'Cone, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons, confirmed the facilities in an email to the Herald, but did not share the new agreement, or answer questions about how many people each will hold and when. FDC Honolulu has held immigrant detainees under a previous agreement with ICE, but the agency declined to answer what will change.
'The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) can confirm we are assisting the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by housing detainees and will continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfill the administration's policy objectives,' O'Cone wrote.
The agreement comes amid an ongoing understaffing crisis at the Bureau of Prisons: Thousands of positions are vacant nationwide and the agency frequently relies on overtime, according to recent Congressional testimony. On June 16, the bureau announced the agreement expansion to staff, and noted that it has 'supported the temporary detention' of over 4,000 individuals so far. The message said that because detention standards are different in the two agencies, internal audits were being conducted of the approved facilities.
The Herald reached out to ICE for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Some federal prison employees told the Herald that the correctional facilities have space and are accustomed to similar arrangements with BOP detainees awaiting trial – but others questioned if the lockdown facilities were an appropriate place for individuals undergoing civil proceedings to determine if they can stay in the United States.
Government data of the average daily populations at ICE facilities lists the majority of immigrant detainees in BOP institutions as having 'no ICE threat level' – meaning they have no criminal convictions. In all ICE facilities nationwide, about a third of detainees have no criminal history.
In May, activists and lawyers in Kansas and Florida published letters raising alarms about ICE detainees in BOP facilities. At FCI Leavenworth, civil rights organizations reported a host of issues, including frequent lockdowns for over 72 hours due to understaffing, crowded and unsanitary conditions, delayed medical care and immigrants who had won their legal cases left languishing in detention for months. At FDC Miami, attorneys wrote that their clients had been denied access to legal mail, legal documents and legal counsel.
A recent Miami Herald investigation also found long lockdowns, harsh conditions and the use of force at the federal detention center in downtown Miami, including an April incident in which officers threw crowd control grenades into a room of protesting ICE detainees.
Andrew Dalack, a trial attorney in New York who has represented clients at MDC Brooklyn for over seven years, described the facility as a 'tinderbox environment.' In July 2024, one of his clients was stabbed and killed by another inmate, said Dalack, who works for Federal Defenders of New York, a non-profit organization.
The decision to house ICE detainees at the jail was 'obviously a terrible development,' he said. 'And I think it should be reconsidered.'
The Agreement
First signed on Feb. 6, the initial agreement between ICE and the Bureau of Prisons created designated units at FDC Miami in Florida; FCI Atlanta in Georgia; FCI Leavenworth in Kansas; FDC Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; and FCI Berlin in New Hampshire for men above the age of 18 who were in ICE custody. ICE covered costs and expenses. At the time of the agreement, lawyers and detainees had reported severe overcrowding in immigration detention centers – with some at a facility in Florida describing sleeping on the floor, or overnight in buses.
But it also comes amid a nationwide staffing crisis at the Bureau of Prisons. Across the country, there are 4,000 vacant positions, and the agency has spent $437.5 million on overtime in fiscal year 2024 alone, Kathleen Toomey, the associate deputy director of the BOP testified before Congress on Feb. 26. She cited a 2024 report from the Office of the Inspector General that found staffing shortages were a 'longstanding challenge' in efforts to prevent and respond to deaths among incarcerated individuals.
'BOP staff have indicated that these shortages pose the greatest threat to ensuring the safety and security of inmates and staff,' she said.
Toomey also described the poor physical state of many BOP facilities. Several have had to close in the last few years due to 'roofs needing replacement, asbestos debris and mold, and leaking ceilings that created unsafe conditions for staff and inmates.' Over 4,000 beds are unusable, she said, due to 'crumbling conditions in housing units.'
Brandy Moore White, the national president of the Counsel of Prison Locals 33, a coalition of unions representing federal officers nationwide, said that a staffing crisis, low morale, and high rates of PTSD and suicide among officers creates a 'perfect storm' at the agency.
But she is 'hopeful everything will work as it should' with the ICE agreement. She said that the agencies are working together to identify facilities able to handle a population influx, and solve issues as they arise, like a lack of translators.
'We do very similar missions every day of the week,' Moore White said. 'We are there to protect inmates and detainees and keep them safe while they're in our custody.'
Immigrants have been housed at BOP facilities in the past – such as the one in Hawaii. In 2018, immigration detainees at FCI Victorville in California sued ICE over inadequate conditions. They were moved after a settlement. But this agreement means that the arrangement is happening on a much larger scale.
Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, said that the agreement 'erases this line between civil detention and criminal punishment.' She described it as a broadening of 'the immigration detention system' to places that it has not traditionally been incorporated.
'We've documented serious concerns across the BOP and its use of these facilities for immigration detention, and this should concern all of us, in light of the expanded enforcement tactics that we're seeing in the United States with respect to immigrant communities,' Cho said.
The Facilities
The three new federal correctional facilities that could begin housing immigrant detainees have each attracted some scrutiny in recent years.
A Hawaii crime boss was found dead of a fentanyl overdose last December while in the federal detention center in Honolulu, which is located across the street from the Honolulu airport, and holds over 300 men and women. Earlier this year, a former officer at the facility pleaded guilty to sexually abusing people incarcerated at the facility in 2017 and 2018.
After a February 2024 inspection, an OIG report found 'serious issues' at FCI Lewisburg, a medium security prison and minimum security camp roughly three hours from Philadelphia that has been open for over 90 years. The findings noting that staffing was at 78%, and raised concerns about inadequate suicide prevention practices. Recommendations were later marked as addressed.
Matthew Barth, the president of the union representing officers at the institution, said that the space and staff are equipped to receive and house the detainees. He said he has full confidence in the officers' ability to keep detainees safe, after working there as a paramedic for over 14 years.
'We are happy to accept the mission from the agency,' he said. 'Our staff are up to the challenge.'
The Metropolitan Detention Center houses over 1,000 men and women in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, and is among the most notorious federal correctional facilities.
Attorneys, federal judges and employees have criticized conditions for years and called for changes at the jail.
The president of a union representing officers penned a letter to her regional director, titled 'unsafe working conditions' on June 23, 2023. She said the turnover rate for staff was 50%, units were left unsupervised by staff and locked down daily, and the agency failed to act.
'What are you waiting for, another loss of inmate life?' Rhonda Barnwell wrote.
The following year, in January 2024, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against sending a man to the facility, citing long lockdowns, delay in necessary medical treatment, and poor physical conditions. He attributed many of the problems to understaffing.
'The best the courts can do is not add unnecessarily to the inmate population and thereby avoid exacerbating the already frightening staff-to-inmate ratio,' U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman wrote in the decision.
In her testimony earlier this year, Toomey said that the agency launched a 35% recruiting initiative in February 2024 at MDC Brooklyn that has improved the issue.
But the changes haven't eliminated safety concerns.
Last summer, at least three other judges followed Furman's lead. One said he might have given the defendant a short sentence at the jail, if not for the 'challenging' conditions. Another decided to release a defendant in a tax fraud case instead of sending him to MDC Brooklyn – condemning the conditions there as 'dangerous' and 'barbaric.'
'Chaos reigns, along with uncontrolled violence,' wrote U.S. district Judge Gary R. Brown, in the tax fraud case.
In March, federal prosecutors brought charges against 25 defendants – including prisoners and a former correctional officer – for violence and contraband smuggling.
'Inmates viciously attacked fellow detainees, a correctional officer betrayed his duty by attempting to smuggle drugs into the facility, several inmates orchestrated elaborate contraband smuggling operations and yet another inmate continued to engage in fraud schemes while detained,' said John J. Durham, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Dalack, the trial attorney, questioned why the government would choose to put immigrant detainees in that environment. He called it a 'nightmare scenario.'
'Detaining people at MDC Brooklyn should be the absolute last option,' he said. 'We should be focusing on putting fewer people there, and certainly not adding immigrant detainees to the population.'
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38 minutes ago
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Did federal prosecutors prove their case against Sean ‘Diddy' Combs? Legal experts weigh in
People in entertainment Sean 'Diddy' Combs Human rights CrimeFacebookTweetLink Follow Whether prosecutors in the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs have proven their case is a question that will be answered by his jury, which soon will start deliberating in the hip-hop mogul's blockbuster sex trafficking trial after hearing from 34 witnesses in testimony over more than six weeks. A conviction certainly is not assured, with lawyers and legal analysts saying there is ample room for jurors to find reasonable doubt – particularly on the racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. 'This is not a walk in the park case; this is not a home run, at all,' said trial attorney and legal analyst Misty Marris. 'There are a lot of technicalities where I think the prosecution case has vulnerabilities.' Federal prosecutors allege Combs and some of his closest employees comprised a criminal enterprise that used threats, violence, forced labor and bribery to force his ex-girlfriends Cassie Ventura and 'Jane' – a pseudonymous accuser – to participate in sexual acts called 'Freak Offs' or 'hotel nights,' and to protect his reputation. Those allegations encompass the charge of racketeering conspiracy. Combs also is charged with two counts of sex trafficking Ventura and Jane and two counts of transporting the women and male escorts for the purposes of prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted of the most serious charges, Combs could face up to life in prison and a minimum sentence of 15 years. While the evidence supporting charges of transporting people for prostitution is relatively straightforward, it remains to be seen whether prosecutors have effectively linked Combs' alleged criminal activity to an enterprise – and indeed proven such an enterprise existed, legal analysts said. And accusations of sex trafficking and the case more broadly have been undercut by the defense's contention that these acts, while perhaps unseemly, were consensual and separate from his lawful businesses, the analysts said. 'Was (Combs) running a criminal enterprise?' asked CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. 'Or was he running a legitimate, iconic business that was overwhelmingly successful, and he was just a very flawed and broken person who was doing some personal things on his personal time, and not using an organization to further criminality?' 'Those are the competing narratives in the courtroom.' Prosecutors' toughest challenge will likely be securing a conviction on the racketeering conspiracy charge, experts agreed, citing its complexity and the novelty of its application in the Combs case. The charge stems from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which was created to prosecute organized crime, like the mafia. Any racketeering case is focused on a so-called 'enterprise,' or a group of people engaged in the alleged misconduct. To secure a conviction, prosecutors must prove Combs and at least one other person committed at least two crimes known as 'predicate acts' within a 10-year window to further the enterprise. They specifically sought to prove transportation for purposes of prostitution, witness tampering, bribery, forced labor and drug-related offenses, but on Wednesday indicated they would not argue attempted arson and attempted kidnapping, according to a letter prosecutors submitted to the judge. Combs has been charged alone, despite prosecutors alleging the enterprise included Combs and members of his inner circle, including his bodyguards and high-ranking employees. In fact, jurors did not hear directly from many of these people – and that will be 'one of the biggest uphill battles for this particular prosecution,' said CNN anchor and chief legal analyst Laura Coates. For example, prosecutors have referred to Combs' former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, as 'an agent and co-conspirator' of the defendant. Though she was mentioned by multiple witnesses and her messages with Combs were presented in court, she was not called to testify. Khorram has denied wrongdoing, and her attorney has not responded to CNN's requests for comment throughout the trial. 'The absence of that testimony does leave some room for a seed of doubt to be planted that the defense will undoubtedly exploit,' said Coates, who hosts the CNN podcast 'Trial By Jury: Diddy.' In a typical RICO prosecution, one might expect to see multiple defendants, like a mobster and his underbosses, Jackson said. But that's not the case in Combs' trial. Prosecutors have suggested employees obtained drugs, baby oil and arranged hotel rooms and flights. 'The issue for that is going to be, were they really aware?' he said. 'You could be an employee getting baby oil, you can be an employee getting hotel rooms … Do you know what your boss is doing, or do you do what you're told?' To convict Combs of the two sex trafficking charges – one each for Ventura and Jane – jurors must find that prosecutors proved he compelled them to participate in commercial sex acts through force, fraud or coercion. Some of these elements are evident, the legal experts indicated. In Ventura's case, physical force was viscerally illustrated by the InterContinental Hotel surveillance footage showing Combs assault Ventura in 2016 – first published by CNN. Physical violence was constant throughout Ventura and Combs' 11-year relationship, according to Ventura's testimony and that of other corroborating witnesses, who told the jury they witnessed Combs assaulting Ventura on numerous occasions. The jury also saw photographs of bruises and gashes on Ventura's body, which were injuries she testified she sustained on dates separate from the 2016 hotel incident. Prosecutors worked to use that evidence to establish a pattern of physical violence they argue shows she was forced and coerced into 'Freak Offs.' In the cases of both women, experts said, there was a degree of financial coercion: Aside from being his girlfriend, Ventura was signed to Combs' Bad Boy record label when she was 19 years old, and he wielded great power over her career. Jane, meanwhile, testified she and Combs entered into a 'love contract' where he agreed to pay her $10,000 rent, but that he threatened to cut her off financially if she stopped participating in 'hotel nights.' Marris believes the sex trafficking case for Ventura is stronger, she said, pointing to the video and Combs' control over her professional career. Combs had also allegedly threatened to release sexually explicit videos of Ventura, and her mother testified she wired $20,000 to Bad Boy Entertainment out of fear for her daughter's safety. The money was later returned, she said. Still, the prosecution will face another challenge: Combs' defense leveraged the women's testimony and text messages with the defendant to undermine the suggestion of coercion, and they pointed out both women at times helped coordinate the sexual encounters, texting with escorts and buying supplies for the room. Both women said during their testimony they were asked by Combs to make these arrangements. The jury also saw text messages between Combs and male escorts arranging their travel, and Combs and his employee booking flights, as well as American Express and bank statements tied to those expenses, indicating Combs paid the bills. Jane expressed in some messages she did not want to participate in 'hotel nights,' but she would acquiesce and testified she wanted to make Combs happy. And she admitted on the stand Combs continues to pay her for rent and her legal representation to this day, even as she testifies against Combs, who is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. Texts showed Ventura at times expressed a willingness to participate in the 'Freak Offs,' and that her relationship with Combs was at times loving: 'I'm always ready to Freak Off lolol,' she wrote in August 2009, toward the beginning of their relationship. In March 2017 she said she enjoyed the encounters 'when we both want it.' But, she testified, 'I would say that loving 'Freak Offs' were just words at that point.' 'The text messages are really the star of the show in this case,' Marris said. 'Text messages that Cassie exchanged with Combs at the time are really important for the defense and do undercut the prosecution narrative and their argument.' Establishing Combs as a horrible and abusive romantic partner, she said, is not enough to prove sex trafficking: Indeed, the defense on Tuesday acknowledged Combs' and Ventura's relationship was 'toxic for many reasons' but argued domestic violence is not sex trafficking. Prosecutors tried to combat this idea through psychologist Dawn Hughes, who offered context to the behavior of victims of abuse. Hughes had not assessed the victims or witnesses in Combs' case but testified it's common for victims to remain in abusive relationships. Financial dependence, she said, also plays an important role – and sexual abuse can make it difficult to seek help and leave. Experts largely agreed the two charges of transportation for the purposes of prostitution, stemming from the Mann Act, are likely the easiest for the prosecution to prove, with clearer evidence and less ambiguity than the others. 'That has been proved by leaps and bounds by prosecutors,' said Marris, adding: 'It's truly very simple: Did individuals cross state lines with the intent to engage in prostitution?' Jane testified she and Combs had 'hotel nights' between May 2021 and October 2023 in a variety of locales, including Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Turks and Caicos. Similarly, Ventura said 'Freak Offs' were held in some of those locations and other cities, like Atlanta and Las Vegas. Ventura testified some escorts participated in 'Freak Offs' in multiple states. They were paid between $1,500 and $6,000 afterwards in cash provided by Combs, she said. 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