Brooklyn inmates in jail without power faced 'humanitarian crisis,' lawsuit alleges

Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Inmates at a Brooklyn jail were locked up without heat or hot water this weekend, sparking what attorneys call a "humanitarian crisis" in a lawsuit filed Monday.

As temperatures dipped to some of their lowest of the season on Thursday, a partial power outage at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, left inmates without lights or heat. Activists and politicians gathered around the jail to protest and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) called for a federal investigation into the matter.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.