Frank Parlato
Ryan Flynn was moved out of Delta unit.
For weeks he had lived without running water in his 5×7 cell. The heat was shut off while the temperature dropped to twelve degrees outside at night. Another inmate threw feces for days. Guards rewarded the man with ramen noodles.
The transfer followed publication of detailed reporting by The Frank Report. Only then did county officials act, and even then they did so silently. There was no announcement. No apology. No explanation.
The Erie County Holding Center is so outdated that it could not legally be built today, yet it continues to house human beings in conditions that would appall a jury.
He is now in general population. Flynn can move freely, exercise, and interact with others.
Earlier this month, Flynn ended a hunger strike that began on January 3. Flynn made a single request: that his uncle read Part 4 of this series aloud to him—an extraordinary demand only because the circumstances were so dire.
The transfer altered Flynn’s daily conditions, but it did nothing to address the underlying legal machinery that continues to hold him without bail.
Flynn was supposed to be in court today. Instead, the hearing was moved to March 5, 2026.
By then he will have been jailed without bail for more than four months, despite facing one of the lowest-level felony charges in New York law. The charge is Criminal Contempt in the First Degree. A Class E felony.
The prosecution’s case rests on a single screenshot—no more, no less.
There is no IP address, no device attribution, no metadata, and no forensic analysis tying Flynn to the account. Prosecutors have had three months to produce it. They haven’t.
To understand this case, you have to go back to 2021. John Flynn was District Attorney then. He had his political enemy Steve Pigeon arrested for first degree rape of a child.
No corroboration. No physical evidence. No witnesses.
Flynn publicly declared that he believed the accuser and required no corroboration—a stance that would later define his legacy. The case ultimately collapsed into a plea that quietly acknowledged its evidentiary weakness.
So fast forward to 2025. In April, Ryan Flynn went to the police and filed a report accusing his cousin of the same thing DA Flynn had accused Pigeon of—sexually abusing him as a child.
Only in this case, that child was now 32 and he was Ryan himself.
Six months later, Ryan was arrested over an anonymous Twitter post.
Meanwhile, defendants charged with assault and weapon offenses walk free under New York’s bail reform laws.
Ryan Flynn remains in custody.
For a screenshot.
Previous Coverage:
- Part 1: Former DA John Flynn Accused of Child Sexual Abuse by Cousin; He Prosecuted Pigeon on Similar, Uncorroborated Charges
- Part 2: Former DA John Flynn’s Accuser Speaks From Jail as Case File Reveals New Details
- Part 3: Held Without Bail, Without Heat, Without Water: Ryan Flynn Speaks from Jail
- Part 4: ‘Publish or I Die’: Ryan Flynn’s Hunger Strike
- Part 5: Judicial Complaint Filed Against Judge Who Jailed DA’s Accuser
Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.
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It is not humanity but your reporting that got him moved. It’s bad enough they have to keep him because the Sehriff is required to hold him but why bring more attention to the inhumane conditions in the jail.