(NEW YORK) — The federal Bureau of Prisons says work to restore power to a jail in New York City where inmates say they have been without heat and electricity for a week will be completed by Monday.
The bureau said in a statement Saturday that a new electrical panel is being installed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after a “partial power outage” due to a fire in the switch gear room.
U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez says she visited the jail with other elected officials Saturday and the heat was uneven and sporadic. She said the inmates had no light in their cells and they “are very angry and complaining.”
Protesters including a brass band rallied outside while Velazquez and other elected officials toured the jail.
Velazquez said fellow New York Democratic Congress members Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney joined her Saturday along with city and state lawmakers.
