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Warden at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center speaks to Bay Ridge Colonial Club

May 23, 2017 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The Metropolitan Detention Center is located at 29th St. and Third Avenue in Park Slope. Courtesy of MDC Brooklyn
The Metropolitan Detention Center is located at 29th St. and Third Avenue in Park Slope. Courtesy of MDC Brooklyn
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Herman Quay, warden at the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, was the guest speaker of at the Colonial Club of Bay Ridge’s bimonthly meeting at Gino’s restaurant on Thursday. He was joined by Cindy Hugar, executive assistant at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC).

Quay spoke about the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the history of MDC, the programs it offers and its success rate of inmate rehabilitation.  MDC, the largest federal detention center in the country, is located at 29th Street and Third Avenue in Park Slope.

Quay has been with MDC since December 2015 and has spent 23 years working with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He began his career as a corrections officer and, prior to coming to Brooklyn, was a warden at the federal institution in Danbury, Connecticut.

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History

Quay explained that the Bureau of Prisons was established in 1930 with three prisons and approximately 11,000 incarcerated individuals.

By 1970, the number of incarcerated individuals increased to 24,000. During the 1970s and ’80s, the city cracked down on crime and instated more laws according to Quay, resulting in 58,000 inmates by 1990.  Today, that number has increased to about 188,000. “And the original three institutions started in 1930 have increased to 122 today, both here and throughout the country,” said Quay.

MDC is one of those detention centers, with 573 staff members, 305 of which are correctional staff such as officers and guards. The rest consist of representatives from various professions including teachers, clergy, medical, business, psychologists and human resources.

The center houses 1,900 individuals according to Quay. “On any given year, we have about 21,000 individuals who pass through our doors. The individuals that are there are simply there for short stays.”

Today, the majority are incarcerated for drug offenses. “About 43 percent of the inmates in the Bureau of Prisons are incarcerated for drug offenses,” said Quay, “[which are] by far the largest type of crime by which we incarcerate.”

Where the inmates will go once they are sentenced is determined primarily by the type of crime they have committed, the length of the sentence they’ve received and their prior criminal history.

“For example,” Quay explained, “somebody who has committed a violent crime and has a long history of committing violent crimes may end up in one of our federal penitentiaries, which is our highest security-type of housing. Someone who is a first offender, with a white-collar type of offense may go to a prison where the security is not as tight.”

 

Programs and Success Rate

One of the main goals of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and MDC is to prepare inmates for their release and re-entry into society. To do this, they have education and college preparation programs, GED programs, financial management programs and computer skills programs available to inmates.

About 5 percent of inmates in the federal detention program at MDC are female. Quay said that they have found that female inmates have trauma-related history, so they are offered education programs and counseling to help them overcome these obstacles.

Quay said that about 34 percent of the released inmates come back to prison and the remaining inmates end up staying out of prison and getting a job.

“When you consider the national average,” said Quay, “of all people who are incarcerated in the federal systems — local systems, state systems — the national average is about 70 percent return to prison.” Quay said he believes that the MDC’s success is related to the variety of programs they offer inmates and their mission to help them re-acclimate themselves to society.

 


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