The government shutdown is causing turmoil at the high-security federal jail in Manhattan, where some prisoners went on a hunger strike on Monday after family visits were canceled for a second week because of staffing shortages, defense lawyers said.

The jail, known as the Metropolitan Correctional Center or M.C.C., is one of the most important detention centers in the federal prison system, housing about 800 detainees. At times the inmates have included accused terrorists, prominent white-collar criminals and organized crime figures like the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo. Still, the majority are anonymous defendants awaiting trial in obscure cases.

“They have already refused a meal — I believe they refused breakfast and lunch,” said Sarah Baumgartel, a federal public defender, who said she learned of the hunger strike from a detained prisoner whom she represents. “My client is in the unit, he’s participating,” she added. She declined to identify the client, out of concern he would be singled out.

The shutdown has also affected the dispensing of medication to some prisoners in the jail. Last week, a prosecutor said at a federal court hearing in Manhattan that his office had been “informed — we don’t have any reason to dispute this — that because of the shutdown, there are issues with prescribing medication.”