The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn is in the spotlight for jailing veteran rapper and mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. Despite housing numerous high-profile inmates over the years, the institution is infamous for its reportedly appalling conditions.
The jail, often referred to as MDC, is where a New York judge ordered Diddy to be held last week after federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking, racketeering, and transporting individuals for prostitution. Combs pleaded not guilty.
High-profile defendants, such as Diddy, are said to receive special protection while incarcerated. Reports indicate that the music mogul is currently housed in a section of MDC Brooklyn for detainees needing additional security.
Diddy is said to be sharing a dormitory-style room with cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried. He previously led a billion-dollar company but was convicted on multiple counts of fraud in March.
Diddy is Just One of Many High Profile Inmates Who Have Been Jailed at the Facility
As the only federal jail in New York City, the facility handles many high-profile cases. Diddy is just the latest notable name to have been processed there. Other well-known individuals who have passed through these hallowed bars include singer R. Kelly, “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
However, the MDC doesn’t give everyone the cushy treatment Diddy and his fellow celebs enjoy. Since it opened in the 1990s, the facility has been plagued with scandals, understaffing issues, and reports of unheralded violence.
In an August sentencing ruling, Judge Brown referenced several instances where jurists hesitated to incarcerate defendants and convicts because of the prevailing conditions in the jail.
“Allegations of inadequate supervision, unbridled assaults, and lack of sufficient medical care are supported by an increasing body of evidence, with certain instances that are irrefutable,” Judge Brown said at the time, per the BBC.
“Chaos reigns, along with uncontrolled violence,” he added.
Judge Implied Conditions at the Jail Housing Diddy Might Be Too Brutal for Some Inmates
Brown’s ruling addressed the case of a defendant who was brutally stabbed multiple times yet received no medical attention, instead spending 25 days confined in his cell. The judge pointed to staffing shortages and deteriorating conditions following the Covid pandemic, which compelled the jail to enter lockdown.
Judge Brown insisted the conditions were simply too brutal for some inmates.
The judge stated that if the Bureau of Prisons were to assign the defendant in the tax fraud case to MDC, he would annul the man’s sentence.
Meanwhile, Judge Brown is not the sole jurist to express severe criticism of the facility.
In January, Judge Jesse Furman of the Federal District Court in Manhattan declined to transfer a man who had pleaded guilty in a drug case to that facility due to its hazardous conditions.
Initially permitting Gustavo Chavez to await sentencing under supervised release, Judge Furman ultimately decided to allow him to skip MDC and report directly to the prison where he would serve his sentence.
Meanwhile, Diddy reportedly remains under suicide watch in the infamous jail.