‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead begs for release from Brooklyn jail over ‘shocking’ conditions

New York Daily News, The (NY)

Lamor Whitehead, the politically connected “Bling Bishop” of Brooklyn who was convicted on a slate of fraud charges in March, is pleading for his release from the borough’s infamous Metropolitan Detention Center, where his lawyer alleges he has been deprived of food and kept in a near-constant lockdown due to a gun recently being found in another inmate’s cell.

Whitehead was sent to the federal Brooklyn lockup May 20 after a judge revoked his bond and ordered him detained pending sentencing on the grounds that he had kept making false claims about federal prosecutors and FBI agents after his conviction. The pastor, a self-described mentee of Mayor Adams known for his flashy fashion choices, is scheduled to be sentenced June 17, and he could face decades in prison under federal guidelines.

But in a Monday memo filed in Manhattan Federal Court, Whitehead’s attorney Dawn Florio alleged her client deserves to receive a sentence of supervised release.

Among other reasons, Florio argued leniency is warranted because Whitehead has been confined to his cell “for the overwhelming majority of his time” at the Metropolitan Detention Center — allegedly in part due to a gun recently being found in another inmate’s cell.

“Almost as soon as Mr. Whitehead entered the facility, it went on lockdown as a loaded and operable firearm was found in an inmate’s cell,” Florio wrote, calling conditions in the jail “shocking and unacceptable.”

It wasn’t clear from Florio’s filing exactly when a gun may have been found. She didn’t immediately return a request for comment from the Daily News on Tuesday.

Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Emery Nelson, whose agency runs the Metropolitan Detention Center, confirmed jail staff received “critical information” on May 21 — the day after Whitehead arrived — about a gun at the facility.

“The [Bureau of Prisons] immediately placed the facility on modified operations status in order to protect the public, staff and incarcerated individuals until a comprehensive search could be completed. The search has concluded, and no firearm was found,” Nelson said. “The facility is operating under normal operations status.”

The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which prosecuted Whitehead, declined to comment.

In her memo, Florio also alleged that Whitehead has been deprived of basic necessities in custody.

“In the weeks that Mr. Whitehead has been in the [Metropolitan Detention Center], he has already lost over 5 pounds due to a lack of unspoiled and edible food,” she wrote after claiming he has “not been provided a mattress” to sleep on, either.

Nelson disputed Florio’s claims about food and sleeping quarters, saying “every individual at” the lockup gets a mattress and access to “appetizing meals that meet the needs of the general population and those at nutritional risk.”

The Metropolitan Detention Center has a history of hellish conditions. Several judges have reduced defendants’ sentences because of what they’ve endured at the Sunset Park jail.

A jury found Whitehead guilty on a litany of charges on March 12, including on a count that he extorted a Bronx businessman for $500,000 while telling him he would — with Adams’ help — use the cash for a real estate investment, even calling the mayor his “key” to financial success. The feds have stressed Whitehead knew he couldn’t make good on the mayoral intervention promise, and there’s no indication Adams was aware of his activities.

In pressing for leniency, Florio wrote in Tuesday’s filing that Whitehead has known the mayor since Adams’ days as Brooklyn borough president.

“[Whitehead] received numerous citations for his good works in the community from state legislators, state senators, City Council members, Mayor Eric Adams, and more,” Florio wrote.

Adams spokesmen didn’t immediately return a request for clarity on what citation he gave Whitehead.