After being accused of sex trafficking, the super-rich rapper and music mogul has been forced to leave his mansions in Los Angeles and Miami for the custody of the infamous prison in Brooklyn, New York.
A former guard at the facility told Business Insider that Combs can expect to be arrested like the other 1,200 inmates at the Brooklyn jail.
“Anytime someone is incarcerated in the Metropolitan Detention Center, it’s never going to be a picnic,” Cameron Lindsay, a retired warden, told BI.
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 incarcerated in the infamous prison in Brooklyn, New York. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
“Going from living in big houses in Beverly Hills and Miami to MDC is a huge change in circumstances,” Bederow said, adding: “All that money is not going to make it hot. When it’s cold, it’s cold. It won’t make you eat much.
During a federal court hearing in Manhattan on Tuesday, US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky ordered Combs to be held in prison ahead of his criminal trial. Prosecutors argued in court that Combs could be trying to flee the country or trying to interfere with the sex trafficking investigation.
At trial, Combs pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and illegal transportation of prostitution.
Combs’ attorneys appealed the judge’s decision in an attempt to get their business client out of the lockup, but failed.
In a court hearing Wednesday, United States District Judge Andrew Carter, who will preside over the yet-to-be-scheduled trial, denied Comb’s plea and ordered him to remain in jail until his trial.
Combs to be held in a Specialized Housing Center away from the general public
Lindsay, a former prison guard – who has long faced scrutiny for reports of poor conditions and violence – told BI Combs not to expect any special treatment during his time at the facility where the first prisoners are held.
“He will be treated like any other prisoner,” said Lindsay, who worked as a guard at the Metropolitan Detention Center from 2007 to 2009.
Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told the court at Wednesday’s plea hearing that Combs will be placed in the prison’s Special Housing Unit, separate from the general population. Agnifilo said it was “hard to be a prisoner” and that it was difficult to prepare for trial because of the various limitations Combs faced.
Agnifilio also asked the judge if he would recommend that Combs be placed in the Essex County Jail instead of MDC. The judge, noting that the BOP typically decides where an inmate will be held, asked Combs’ attorneys and prosecutors to file a joint status report before making a decision.
Lindsay said Combs may be kept away from the general public for his own safety.
“Given his status as a celebrity and a rap star, I would believe that he would have solitary confinement and isolation under very difficult conditions,” Lindsay told BI. .
The space would be a small, “stereotypical” jail cell with a metal sink and toilet, Lindsay said, calling it “dramatically different” from the lifestyle Combs is used to.
Lindsay said Combs was better off in isolation because the charges against him caused him to be attacked by other inmates.
Federal prosecutors allege that for decades Combs “harassed, threatened, and coerced women and others close to him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his behavior.”
Combs’ celebrity status, coupled with the fact that the charges against him are related to the abuse of women, would certainly make him an easy target — a target that other inmates could try to exploit. ,” said Lindsay.
Combs’ attorneys declined to comment for this story earlier Wednesday, but pointed BI to the appeal they filed, which says, “Several courts in this District have held that conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center are inappropriate for of pre-trial detention.”
The lawyers wrote: “Earlier this summer, an inmate was killed. At least four inmates have died by suicide there in the past three years. Many courts in the district have expressed concern about the appalling conditions of to be detained there.”
Bederow, a former federal prosecutor, told BI that prison conditions are “so bad that lawyers are making a plea to avoid arrest based on the bad conditions there.”
“And sometimes it works,” he said.