MEMORANDUM & ORDER Plaintiffs brought this Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) action for negligence on behalf of a putative class of persons incarcerated at the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) facility in Brooklyn during a power outage.1 The complaint alleged that on January 27, 2019, during a period of severe winter weather, the West Building at the MDC lost power because of an electrical fire. ECF No. 29 at 1-2.2 MDC staff were unable to restore power until February 3, 2019, a week later. Id. at 1. As a result of the power outage, those held in the West Building were allegedly subjected to “inhumane conditions that posed unreasonable and substantial risks to their health and safety,” which the complaint referred to as the “Conditions Crisis.” Id. at 2, 16-43. Plaintiffs now move to certify a class pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. I. BACKGROUND Putative class representatives David Scott and Jeremy Cerda, as well as plaintiffs Osman Ak, Merudh Patel, Gregory Hardy, and Larry Williams, were incarcerated in the West Building when the power went out. Plaintiffs support their motion to certify a class with declarations and two documents incorporated by reference: a report from the Office of the Inspector General within the Department of Justice and congressional testimony by the Executive Director of the Federal Defenders of New York, David E. Patton.3 Taken together, this evidence paints a harrowing picture of prison conditions in the wake of the fire and power outage. In particular, the evidence describes a series of inhumane and potentially dangerous conditions that affected residents throughout the West Building during the week without power. I briefly summarize plaintiffs’ evidentiary showings made for the purposes of this motion, bearing in mind that “Rule 23 grants courts no license to engage in free-ranging merits inquiries at the certification stage.” Amgen Inc. v. Conn. Ret. Plans and Tr. Funds, 568 U.S. 455, 466 (2013). A. Lockdown Conditions After the power outage, MDC staff “ordered a lockdown of everyone in their cells.” ECF No. 131-3 at 3 7; see also ECF No. 131-5 at 3 6 (“staff ordered that everyone immediately lock-in to their cells.”). Scott “was locked in his [cell] for 24 hours a day for several days,” while Patel was “locked down for 24 hours a day for the next seven days, without leaving [his] freezing cell a single time.” ECF No. 131-2 at 3 7; ECF No. 131-4 at 3 12. Williams was initially allowed to leave his cell “for a few hours each day,” but by February 1, he “was locked in [his] freezing cell for 24 hours a day.” ECF No. 131-6 at 3 9. Similarly, Hardy was “locked alone in [his] freezing cell” for “24 hours a day for several days” and “was not permitted to leave.” ECF No. 131-5 at 3 13. The OIG report found that MDC staff “confin[ed] inmates in their cells for extended periods of time.” OIG Rep. at 22. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez twice toured the West Building and found that residents had been locked down for at least 48 hours straight, despite initial assurances by MDC staff that the lockdown was only a temporary measure to facilitate a count of the residents. Patton Testimony at 3. B. Lack of Light West Building residents spent the Conditions Crisis “immersed in complete darkness.” ECF No. 131-3 at 3 9; see also ECF No. 131-5 at 3 7. Scott had no light in his cell, “could not read,…[and] ate meals in the dark” even though he “could not see [his] own food.” ECF No. 131-2 at 3 8. Patel spent “seven days in the dark” in the Special Housing Unit. ECF No. 131-4 at 3 6. A representative of the Federal Defenders who toured the facility on February 1 found that the cells were “pitch black,” with only the emergency lighting in the common areas operational. Patton Testimony at 3. C. Lack of Heat or Adequate Clothing All the plaintiffs endured “frigid temperatures” during the Conditions Crisis. ECF No. 131-2 at 3 14. Scott had no heat in his cell, “air vents…were blowing cold air,” and the “frigid temperatures made it impossible to stay warm.” Id. at 3
9, 14. Ak was locked in his “freezing cell” without heat and “subjected to extremely cold temperatures.” ECF No. 131-3 at 3
