Brooklyn federal judge criticizes MDC for ignoring court order in inmate’s medical case

December 22, 2023 Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

The Metropolitan Detention Center. Photo: Kathy Willens/AP File

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Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Dora Irizarry has sharply criticized the staff of Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center for their handling of inmate James Young’s severe MRSA infection.

Despite Judge Irizarry’s order to send Young to a medical facility on Monday, the MDC staff defied the judge’s orders and returned him to the jail’s general population. The situation escalated when Young was only taken to an emergency room and subsequently placed back in general population, still wearing a yellow jumpsuit that marked him as ill.

Judge Irizarry, addressing a Wednesday hearing, condemned the MDC’s actions as “an abomination” and “utterly contemptuous of human life and dignity.”

Although Judge Irizarry, formerly the chief judge of the Eastern District of New York, refrained from holding the MDC and Bureau of Prisons staff attorney, Neha Khan, in contempt, she expressed severe disappointment and considered various sanctions, including filing grievances and questioning the lawyers’ professional conduct.

Young has been suffering from a fractured hand, broken leg and open wounds infected by MRSA.

The failure to comply with the initial court order by Magistrate Judge Robert Levy and the subsequent neglect by MDC is just the latest of ongoing issues at the troubled facility. These include understaffing and poor medical care, which have been long standing concerns raised by judges and defense lawyers.

The MDC’s history of problematic conditions includes a power loss during winter 2019 and inadequate basic facilities in 2021. The recent developments in Young’s case underscore systemic issues at the MDC, which is already grappling with significant staff shortages in both its correctional and medical units.