Prisoner stabbed to death in New York

By John Annese
New York Daily News

NEW YORK — An inmate in Brooklyn problematic federal prison was stabbed in a fight, the Daily News learned.

Uriel Whyte, 37, who was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center for more than two years awaiting trial in a federal weapons case, died June 7 at Sunset Park Prison, federal prison authorities confirmed.

Although details of his killing are scarce, a source familiar with the case said he was stabbed during a dispute with another inmate over drugs. Another source said it is believed Whyte was fatally stabbed in the neck on the eighth floor of the prison.

No one has yet been formally charged in Whyte’s murder. An internal memo to MDC inmates announced that a “thorough investigation” would be conducted and that the prison population would “remain under lock and key until further notice.”

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Robert Boom, a correctional officer with the NYDOC for 13 years, collapsed while on duty. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Whyte’s killing came amid years of complaints from federal judges and defense attorneys about the hellish conditions and severe staff shortages at Brooklyn’s notorious prison. Earlier this year, a federal judge in Manhattan refused to send a 70-year-old drug dealer there before his sentencing because the conditions so consistently “terrible”.

“One observation I would like to make is that MCC was closed when Jeffrey Epstein died,” said Whyte’s lawyer, referring to the Metropolitan Correction Center in Manhattan, which closed in 2021, after the sex-obsessed financier took his own life in 2019.

“He was a rich, white man who committed suicide. If my poor, black, anonymous client is killed, nothing will happen. That’s my view,” added attorney Gary Kaufman.

The attorney said he was contacted by the prison’s legal department on June 7 and informed that Wythe was “deceased.” He did not learn that he was the victim of murder until he followed up.

In a press release from the day of Whyte’s death, sent to the Daily News upon request Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons announced that “Uriel Whyte was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Detention Center following an alleged altercation” and that “emergency personnel subsequently determined him dead.”

Wythe was charged in Long Island federal court in July 2021 with possessing a firearm despite his conviction. This came after a shooting incident in January 2020 and another incident in April in which he pointed a gun at a woman and her child in Hempstead, LI, according to federal authorities.

“I don’t care what anyone is accused of. If the government has ownership of your body, I think they have an obligation to protect you and they failed them. There is no excuse for that,” Kaufman said.

“Even if you’re a criminal defense attorney dealing with people in prison, it’s shocking to hear that your client was murdered in prison.”

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