Maria

Puerto Rico’s only federal detention center ­— the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Guaynabo — lost running water and electricity when Hurricane Maria devastated the island. One inmate, Milton Pinilla, a pre-trial detainee at MDC Guaynabo, and his lawyer are claiming the prison’s response to the disaster and its treatment of prisoners was both unconscionable and a “grave violation of basic human rights.”

 
 

A motion filed in Puerto Rico’s federal district court includes two first person accounts from Milton Pinilla describing the events in one unit of the prison following the storm: a week of horrific conditions, dehydration, illness, and fear, all punctuated by a night of violence and humiliation at the hands of prison guards. Pinilla, along with the approximately 120 other inmates in unit 2C, was kept locked in his cell for nearly seven days following the storm. During that time he was given limited drinking water, was unable to flush the toilet in his cell, and couldn’t shower.

“Living conditions in my cell were not fit for human habitation. The smell and stench was so intoxicating that I no longer had the urge to eat.”

Case 3:16-cr-00463-GAG Document 235 Filed 03/04/18