Velázquez condemns COVID-plagued Queens private jail as NYC reps blast local lockups

U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez condemned conditions inside the Queens Detention Facility in response to Eagle reporting. Image via House Television via AP

By David Brand

U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez condemned conditions at New York City’s lone private jail on Tuesday, tweeting her opinion in response to reporting by the Eagle.

Velázquez shared a May 12 article revealing that an inmate at the Queens Detention Facility, a privately run jail near JFK Airport, had tested positive twice for COVID-19. Her tweet included a call for “compassionate release” for vulnerable inmates at risk of dying from COVID-19. 

“Conditions at these detention centers are so poor that this man contracted #COVID19 TWICE,” Velázquez tweeted. “These institutions are not a safe place for inmates or those detained. We need compassionate release of vulnerable populations who present no public safety risk.”

At least 38 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 — including the man who tested positive twice — before GEO Group stopped testing last month, according to court-ordered reports issued by the jail’s warden.

Over the past two months, the Eagle has reported regularly on the surging rate of COVID-19 inside the federal jail, which is operated by private prison firm GEO Group under contract with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Velázquez is the second member of the Queens congressional delegation to challenge the jail conditions, which the Eagle revealed after multiple conversations with six inmates. U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks sent a letter to the jail’s warden last month requesting information on efforts to stop the spread of the virus. The 222-bed jail house houses federal defendants as well as many cooperating witnesses who await sentencing.

The inmates, their loved ones and defense attorneys who contacted the Eagle said social distancing is impossible in the jail’s wide-open dormitories. Four inmates on Wednesday filed a federal class action lawsuit demanding their release and claiming that GEO Group has failed to prevent the illness. GEO Group housed inmates with COVID-19 in the same dorms — and at times, the same bunk beds — as healthy inmates, the complaint states.

In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for GEO Group said the corporation has taken “comprehensive steps” to mitigate the risk of COVID-19. GEO Group, the spokesperson added, “plays no role in decisions related to the release of individuals from federal pre-trial detention facilities.”

On Friday, Velázquez and several other local elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, took on the conditions at another one of New York City’s federal jails, Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Former Correctional Health Services Director Dr. Homer Venters toured the facility last month and cited numerous issues that he said have hastened the spread of the coronavirus. The Bureau of Prisons, which runs MDC, has tested few inmates for COVID-19, even as the number of staff members with the illness has soared.

MDC has also been named in a class action lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court.

“MDC Brooklyn has a long, troubled history, but it is increasingly clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded problems at this institution,” Velázquez, Meng and the other elected official said in a joint statement. “We have a moral obligation to ensure those in federal custody are cared for properly and to protect the health and safety of the women and men who work at these facilities.”