A FEDERAL JAIL in Brooklyn, New York, that houses roughly 1,700 people is destroying medical records as part of a deliberate effort to obscure the number of incarcerated people infected with the coronavirus and to avoid providing them adequate care, alleges the report of a medical expert who toured the facility April 23 as part of a court-ordered inspection.
The report, filed Thursday as part of a putative class-action lawsuit by people held in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, casts doubt on assertions by the Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District, which serves as counsel for the bureau. The Bureau of Prisons and federal prosecutors have insisted in court that the situation at the jail is under control. But the medical examiner’s report — which contradicted prison assertions that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines were being followed — suggests that the six people in custody who have tested positive for the disease likely represent the tip of the iceberg.
“There may be a significant number of cases of COVID-19 that are undetected, both propelling the pace of the outbreak within the MDC—and because the MDC is not a closed system—the larger community,” the report states, referring to the jail by its initials. “The MDC’s failures … represent gross deviations from adherence to correctional standards of care and CDC guidance.”