Nearly eight months have passed since Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested and transferred to New York’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center to face sex trafficking and racketeering charges via Yahoo.
And, according to the New York Times, the former high-flying Bad Boy Records CEO and billionaire entrepreneur’s life in the communal, dorm-style unit separated from the rest of the inmates is a study in contrasts.
The typically dapper MC’s hair and beard have turned grey because hair dye is not permitted in the Brooklyn jail, which has long been the subject of complaints about its deplorable conditions, including reports of mold and vermin, extended lockdowns, and understaffing.
Combs gets up for breakfast at 7 a.m. and has time to exercise in a room with yoga mats and a small basketball hoop, or hang out in a communal area with a ping-pong table and a TV.
Combs’ lawyers have tried and failed three times to get their client released on bail on charges that, if proven guilty, could land Diddy in prison for the rest of his life.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and he awaits opening statements in the trial, which is set to begin on May 5th, over allegations that the rap impresario oversaw a violent criminal conspiracy that allegedly included kidnapping, arson, and drug crimes in service of his alleged sexual abuse of multiple men and women to satisfy his need for “sexual gratification.”
Combs is currently housed in the jail’s 4 North section, a fourth-floor area with approximately 20 men. Until recently, fellow high-profile inmates on the unit included crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried, as well as government informants, including former gang members who have been separated from the general jail population for their own safety; accused United Health Care CEO murderer Luigi Mangione, who shares a lawyer with Combs, is housed in the same jail, but in a different unit.
While Combs’ lawyers initially expected their A-list client to be housed in the restrictive Special Housing Unit, where inmates spend 23 hours a day inside their cells, he was instead assigned to the less harsh 4 North Unit.
Inmates, who are given brown jail clothes, can eat their meals in a common area and use a bathroom with stalls, as well as listen to music or watch movies on a tablet available for purchase at the commissary, but they do not have internet or wi-fi access.
While Diddy previously dined on the finest meals prepared by private chefs, the menu in lock-up is decidedly less glamorous, with a rotating menu that includes lasagna or “pasta fazool” for vegetarians on the second Friday of each month. In addition to toiletries, radios, and watches, the commissary sells Snickers bars and Cheez-It bags.
Inmates can spend up to $180 at the commissary every two weeks using funds provided by friends and family, with one essential item, $1 packets of mackerel (“macks”), serving as a key bartering tool among the incarcerated.
Combs is allowed to have visitors on Tuesdays, and while he can make phone calls, such as one to rapper Ye, the conversations are limited to 15 minutes and are monitored by authorities.
While the current accommodations are, as expected, sparse and somewhat harsh, they are unlikely to compare to the federal prison to which Combs could be sentenced if convicted of the charges in the eight-week trial.