We've heard a lot about how ignoring tickets can lead to a less-than-ideal stay in a city cell, and the Gowanus Lounge has a story on one Brooklyn woman's recent encounter with "the system". A summons for not walking her dog with a leash and a "free" subway ride were her two violations that collided in a perfect storm, landing her at the Brooklyn Central Booking for 24+ hours. Her main gripe was with the conditions of the place (located on Schermerhorn Street between Smith and Boerum Place):
I was going to see a student in Manhattan. I went to the Nevins Street 4/5 station. The Metrocard machine did not take my ATM card and was not accepting bills! No one was in the booth...I decided to pass through turnstile. I heard someone on the platform below, a cop was there with the token booth worker! I wondered if this was a ticket quota trap.
He was just going to let me go when he punched in my info and it came up that there was a warrant out for my arrest. A squad car was called. They cuffed me and brought me to the precinct in the Hoyt Jay station where they found that my warrant was for an unpaid off leash summons.
When she had originally gone to pay the ticket, it was dismissed -- but this encounter led her to be locked up none-the-less. The accomodations included throwing up heroin addicts, no water, loud music played by the guards, occasional bologna sandwiches tossed into the cells, mice...and so much more. The lawyer of this particular woman commented that the "facility was worse than the men's Tombs in Manhattan.
Photo of Brooklyn Central Booking via Forgotten-NY.
