MDC Brooklyn, where prisoners were held for a week without heat or electricity. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed it had requested the Office of the Inspector General to study the cause of and responses to electrical and heating outages at Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn, a city jail where 1,600 offenders await sentencing or trial. Prisoners at the jail endured the recent polar vortex, which plunged the region into sub-zero temperatures, without heat, hot water, hot food and light.

Scrutiny revolves around the jail officials’ response to the situation. At first, the warden’s office denied an electrical issue had changed the quality of the jail conditions, saying that inmate cells were minimally impacted. Once it became clear much of the jail was without power, the warden’s office and utility Con Edison blamed each other for any electrical issues. A delivery of additional generators, hand warmers and blankets to the jail went unused. Jail officials also ignored calls to move prisoners to a nearby, largely empty jail with functioning heating and power.

After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked for a federal investigation, the justice department announced that an investigation into the jail conditions and officials would be conducted.

According to the New York Times, the jail first experienced brief electrical outages in early January and unrelated heating issues in mid-January. Lines and pumps to boilers froze due to cold temperatures, meaning the facility’s heating system was at partial capacity. Solving the ongoing heating issues was complicated by an electric panel fire on Jan. 27 that knocked out power to most of the facility. Standby generators provided limited electricity for critical needs.

The cumulative result was inmates were locked down in dark, freezing cold cells and fed canned rations. Many tried to stay warm with multiple clothing layers and by confining themselves to bed. Others were unable to communicate with family and doctors via the jail’s computer messaging system. Once word spread about the jail conditions, protesters assembled outside the building while angry and sick inmates banged on cell windows. Jail officers complained to their union about the working conditions as well.

Power was finally restored to the jail on Feb. 3 and the heating conditions improved from there on. However, the most heat is on jail officials as a federal misconduct investigation is pending.