After being charged with sex trafficking, the super-rich rapper and music mogul was forced to leave his large mansions in Los Angeles and Miami and move to a notorious prison in Brooklyn, New York.
A former warden at the facility told Business Insider that Combs could expect to be treated like any of the other 1,200 inmates at the Brooklyn prison.
“Being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center is no picnic,” Cameron Lindsay, the retired prison warden, told BI.
The prison “is hell on earth for anyone unfortunate enough to live there,” Mark Bederow, a criminal defense attorney and former Manhattan prosecutor, told BI.
Combs is placed in a notorious prison in Brooklyn, New York. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
“Moving from mansions in Beverly Hills and Miami to the MDC is one of the most drastic changes imaginable,” Bederow said, adding, “All that money isn’t going to make it warmer when it’s cold, or colder when it’s hot. It’s not going to make the food more palatable. It’s not going to keep the cockroaches away.”
During a hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky ordered Combs to be sent to prison before his criminal trial begins. Prosecutors argued in court that Combs could try to flee the country or interfere with the sex trafficking investigation.
At the hearing, Combs pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, organized crime conspiracy and illegal transportation for the purpose of prostitution.
Combs’ lawyers appealed the judge’s decision in an attempt to get their client, a businessman, out of prison, but their attempt failed.
At a court hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, who will preside over the as-yet-unscheduled trial, denied Combs’ appeal and ordered him to remain in jail until his trial.
Combs must be kept in special housing units away from the general population
Lindsay, the former warden of the prison – which has long been under scrutiny for reports of poor conditions and violence – told BI that Combs could not expect special treatment during his stay at the facility, which holds pretrial detainees.
“He is being treated like any other inmate,” said Lindsay, who served as director of the Metropolitan Detention Center from 2007 to 2009.
Combs’ defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told the court at Wednesday’s appeal hearing that Combs will be housed in a special section of the prison that is separated from the general population. Agnifilo said it is “certainly tough being an inmate” and that it is difficult to prepare for trial given the various restrictions Combs is subject to.
Agnifilio also asked the judge if he could recommend that Combs be housed in the Essex County Jail instead of the MDC. The judge noted that the BOP usually decides where an inmate is held and asked Combs’ attorneys and prosecutors to file a joint status report before making a decision.
Lindsay said Combs is most likely being kept away from the public for his own safety.
“Given his status as a celebrity and rap star, I would obviously believe he would be a single-celled organism and isolated under very strict conditions,” Lindsay told BI.
The room was a small, “stereotypical” concrete prison cell with a steel sink and toilet, said Lindsay, who described it as “shockingly different” from the lifestyle Combs was used to.
Lindsay said it was better to isolate Combs from the general public because the allegations against him made him a target for other inmates.
In the indictment, federal prosecutors allege that for decades Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his behavior.”
Combs’ celebrity status “combined with the fact that the charges against him relate to the abuse of women would certainly make him an easier target – a target that some inmates would definitely try to exploit,” Lindsay said.
Combs’ attorneys declined to comment for this article Wednesday morning, but referred BI to the appeal they filed, which states: “Multiple courts in this district have found that the conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center are not suitable for pretrial detention.”
The lawyers wrote: “Just this summer, an inmate was murdered. At least four inmates have committed suicide there in the last three years. Numerous courts in this district have expressed concerns about the appalling prison conditions there.”
Bederow, the former federal prosecutor, told BI that conditions in the prison were “so bad that lawyers are filing motions to avoid detention due to the deplorable conditions there.”
“And sometimes it works,” he said.
