Mansion to misery: A glimpse inside the prison Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs now calls home

By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN

(CNN) — Described as “disgusting” with “horrifying” conditions, the detention center music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs now calls home is a far cry from the Miami and Los Angeles mansions he once lived in.

“When he wakes up, he’s staring at cinder block painted white walls, as opposed to whatever the decor of his mansions were,” Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for President Donald Trump, told CNN Wednesday.

Cohen should know. He is among several high-profile inmates who have served time in New York City’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center. The facility has been home to singer R. Kelly, “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, one-time cryptocurrency whiz kid Sam Bankman-Fried, and rapper Fetty Wap. Currently, suspected cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia is being held there as he awaits trial on murder and drug trafficking charges.

A federal judge denied Combs bail Wednesday saying the bail proposal set forth by his defense attorneys was “insufficient” in addressing the court’s concerns. Judge Andrew Carter said there were “no condition or conditions” that would reduce the risk of witness tampering or obstruction in Combs’ case. As such, the entertainer is to remain in federal custody until he faces trial on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

With a trial date yet to be set for the 54-year-old hip-hop artist, it’s unknown how long Combs will be held in the Brooklyn prison, but after Wednesday’s bail denial hearing his lawyer said they would be appealing the decision.

No pillows in prison

Notorious for poor living conditions, staffing shortages, inmate violence, and power outages, the Brooklyn prison is currently the only federal correction center serving the nation’s largest city. This after the Federal Bureau of Prisons shuttered its Manhattan complex shortly after multimillionaire financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in 2019.

Asked about the current conditions at the MDC, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said that the agency “takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody” and as such they “review safety protocols and implement corrective actions when identified as necessary.”

The Bureau of Prisons appointed an Urgent Action Team earlier this year “to take a holistic look at the challenges at MDC Brooklyn,” spokesperson Emery Nelson said in an email.

“The team’s work is ongoing, but it has already increased permanent staffing at the institution (including COs and medical staff), addressed over 700 backlogged maintenance requests, and applied a continued focus on the issues raised in two recent judicial decisions,” Nelson said.

“It’s a very difficult place to be an inmate” Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo argued in court Wednesday telling the judge that it would be difficult for his client to get ready for trial if he were to be housed there.

Constructed in the 1990s to address overcrowding in New York City prisons, the Metropolitan Detention Center houses inmates awaiting trials in Brooklyn and Manhattan federal court.

“He’s waking up on a steel bed with a one-and-a-half-inch mattress, no pillow, in an eight by 10-foot cell that I can assure you is disgusting,” Cohen told CNN Wednesday. Cohen, who was incarcerated at the prison in 2020 said that prisoners in the facility’s Special Housing Unit, where Combs is housed, basically have a three by five-foot space within which to move.

“There’s no books at the early part, so he is really dealing with a lot right now,” Cohen said of what can be expected in Combs’ first days at the facility.

Prison described as ‘Hell on Earth’

In June, one inmate awaiting trial on gun charges, Uriel Whyte, was stabbed to death by another inmate, according to a Bureau of Prisons news release. A month later, inmate Edwin Cordero died in a fight that broke out inside the prison. Cordero’s lawyer told The New York Times that his client was “another victim of M.D.C. Brooklyn, an overcrowded, understaffed and neglected federal jail that is hell on earth.”

In January 2019, a prolonged power outage plunged the correctional facility into crisis, leaving inmates in near-total darkness for a week, exposing them to frigid temperatures that swept the Northeast. The incident prompted a Justice Department investigation assessing whether the Bureau of Prisons had “adequate contingency plans” to address inmate living conditions. According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the prisoners, inmates were reportedly confined to their cells for days on end, and forced to endure non-functioning toilets inside cells and other unsanitary conditions.

The Bureau of Prisons settled that lawsuit last summer by compensating 1,600 inmates a total of approximately $10 million for enduring frigid and inhumane conditions as a result of the power outage.

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