Meek Mill is speaking out about the poor conditions in jails after news about inmates living without heat, hot water and limited electricity at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn spread on social media over the weekend.
Meek — who was released from jail on bail in April 2018 after serving five months for a probation violation — took to Twitter on Saturday (Feb. 2) to share his story about inhuman conditions he lived in during his incarceration.
“I been thru this sleeping with 2 thermal sets on.. county clothes ….skully..county coat 4 blankets and 4 sheets because half of our window was broken out in the middle of January,” Meek tweeted. “The funny part is I used to get on the phone and not even speak on it.”
“That was just normal,” he continued. “Anybody who was ever locked at ‘house of corrections’ know about being locked a cell on a 100 degree night with no air conditioning! Real slavery type stuff… I was there I know they don’t care!”
Meek isn’t the only artist speaking out about in support of the MDC inmates. Bronx rapper Mysonne organized and participated in a protest outside of the detention center on Saturday (Feb. 2).
More than 1,600 inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center have been without proper heat and hot water for the last week, according to the New York Times. A spokesperson for the jail’s warden, Herman Quay, told the Times that denies those claims, stating that the facility had a power outage last Saturday (Jan. 26), but the heat and hot water weren’t affected.
The federal Bureau of Prisons has backed Quay’s claims, telling the NYT that the detention center was “experiencing a partial power outage” and is using emergency power from generators. The agency also alluded that the issue at hand is Con Edison’s fault since the energy company had been “dealing with numerous power emergencies in the community,” during last week’s polar vortex that left the east coast in blistering cold temperatures.
However, a spokesperson for Con Edison fired back at these claims, stating that they didn’t have any problems in New York during the recent polar vortex. “It’s an internal problem, and their electricians will have to fix it,” the spokesman said. “End of story.”
New York City experienced low temperatures of one degree with a negative wind chill during the recent polar vortex resulting in a “Code Blue” for the city. Inmates haven’t received hot meals in several days and haven’t had access to the commissary due to the limited electricity.
After videos of inmates banging on the windows in protest went viral, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered blankets, hand warmers and new generators to the facility. Power is expected to be restored fully on Monday. A protest by Justice League NYC has been scheduled to take place on Sunday (Feb. 3) from noon until 6 pm local time.