(CNN) A nonprofit legal organization has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where inmates were subject to cold and darkness as a result of a fire in the switch gear room that caused a partial power outage.

The Federal Defenders of New York, which represents low-income people accused of federal crimes, alleges its clients' constitutional rights were violated when legal visitation was suspended entirely between January 28 and Saturday.

Legal visitation resumed Sunday, but it lasted fewer than four hours before attorneys were escorted out because of pepper spray being dispersed in the visiting room, the lawsuit alleges.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to assistance of counsel for defense.

Prisoners call out to protesters and family members gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday.

The lawsuit also claims the federal Bureau of Prisons was untruthful in a Sunday press release in which it claimed all inmates received medical attention and that heating in the building was not affected by the power outage.

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