Court Slams “Barbaric” Prison Conditions in Sentencing Opinion

The “dangerous, barbaric conditions” at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn recently prompted a district judge to impose an “unusual” sentence on a defendant: a prison sentence at a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility, unless that facility is MDC, in which case the sentence would be converted to home confinement. In a written opinion issued on August 5, 2024, U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Daniel Colucci, who had pleaded guilty to charges related to tax fraud, to nine months of imprisonment, which was below the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range of 18-24 months.¹ While the defendant was a 74-year-old, first-time offender, with community support and a recent cancer diagnosis, the court concluded that a sentence of time in prison was warranted given the seriousness of his tax fraud, the impact on his victim employees, and his somewhat tepid acceptance of responsibility. However, given the violence, lack of medical care, lack of proper supervision, and “inordinate periods of lockdown” at the MDC, coupled with the defendant’s age and health status, the court further ruled that “if the BOP opts to designate MDC as the relevant facility [for Colucci to serve his sentence], then the imposed term of imprisonment will be vacated and, in its place, the defendant shall serve nine months of home incarceration with electronic monitoring.”² In the days since sentencing, the BOP has confirmed that Mr. Colucci will not be designated to the MDC and the court ordered Mr. Colucci to surrender himself to the proper facility.³ It remains to be seen whether the court’s reliance on MDC’s conditions to justify an alternate sentence in Colucci’s case will impact other individuals — whether convicted of white collar crimes or otherwise — who no doubt will point to Colucci in their own efforts to get lower sentences or pre-trial release.

Although there were “far too many cases to cite,” the court used its opinion to highlight specific examples of MDC’s failings because “there is no complete public record of the problem.”⁴ The court provided a series of examples of violence at MDC in just the five months preceding the court’s opinion. These examples included two killings, two stabbings, and a severe beating. The court also gave an example where incarcerated individuals were forced to provide medical care for one another because prison staff was unavailable and MDC’s panic button was inoperable. Other examples of “lawlessness” at MDC included photographs of gang members while in their cells that were taken using mobile phones smuggled into the facility and allegations that prison staff had “accepted tens of thousands of dollars from inmates in exchange for smuggling narcotics, cigarettes, and cell phones into the MDC.”⁵

MDC’s problematic conditions are not new. As the court noted, they are so well-known to the S.D.N.Y. and E.D.N.Y. bench and bar that practitioners can reference them by shorthand in arguing for leniency, often without factual dispute by government prosecutors.⁶ The court also cited other cases in which judges have granted relief to defendants because of MDC’s conditions.⁷

While the sentence in Colucci is unusual, federal judges highlighting problematic prison conditions is not. In 2021, after being reprimanded by U.S. District Judge Roy Lamberth (D.D.C.), the United States Marshal’s service decided to move all federal defendants out of the District of Columbia’s Central Detention Facility (CDF) because that facility did not meet minimum Federal Performance-Based Detention standards. Like the MDC, CDF reportedly had pervasive issues related to lack of proper medical care, unlivable and unsanitary conditions, and potential civil rights abuses by correctional officers.⁸ And there are numerous examples of downward departures, variances, or other relief for defendants based on conditions at prison facilities either controlled or used by BOP.⁹

Takeaways

Individuals facing confinement in MDC no doubt will want to consider relying on Colucci in any sentencing or bail arguments. Even if individuals are situated differently from the older, first-time white-collar defendant in Colucci, the court’s conclusion that MDC’s conditions are meaningfully harsher than other facilities applies across the board. And defendants facing potential prison or pre-trial detention in other jurisdictions also would be well-advised to investigate and present prison and jail conditions to their sentencing judge as a basis for leniency.

For questions about white collar prosecutions and potential sentencing issues reach out to the authors or any of their colleagues in Arnold & Porter’s White Collar Defense & Investigations, Securities Enforcement & Litigation, or Anti-Corruption practice groups.

© Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 2024 All Rights Reserved. This Blog post is intended to be a general summary of the law and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.