Inside the Brooklyn federal jail where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is locked up: violence, squalor and death

NEW YORK (AP) — As they unsuccessfully fought to keep Sean “Diddy” Combs out of jail after his sex trafficking arrest, the music mogul’s lawyers highlighted a litany of horrors at the Brooklyn federal lockup where he was headed: horrific conditions, rampant violence and multiple deaths.

Combs, 54, was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday — a place that’s been described as “hell on earth” and an “ongoing tragedy” — after pleading not guilty in a case that accuses him of physically and sexually abusing women for more than a decade.

The facility, the only federal jail in New York City, has been plagued by problems since it opened in the 1990s. In recent years, its conditions have been so stark that some judges have refused to send people there. It has also been home to a number of high-profile inmates, including R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

In a statement, the federal Bureau of Prisons said: “We also take seriously addressing the staffing and other challenges at MDC Brooklyn.” An agency team is working to fix problems, including by adding permanent correctional and medical staff, remedying more than 700 backlogged maintenance requests and answering judges' concerns.

A judge on Wednesday denied a request by Combs' lawyers to let him await trial under house arrest at his $48 million mansion on an island in Miami Beach, Florida.

Here are some important things to know about the jail:

The Bureau of Prisons opened the facility, known as MDC Brooklyn, as a jail in the early 1990s.

It’s used mainly for post-arrest detention for people awaiting trial in federal courts in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Other inmates are there to serve short sentences following convictions.

The facility, in an industrial area on the Brooklyn waterfront, has about 1,200 detainees, down from more than 1,600 in January. It has outdoor recreation facilities, a medical unit with examination rooms and a dental suite. It has a separate wing for educational programs and the jail’s library.

The Bureau of Prisons closed its crumbling Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan in 2021, leaving MDC Brooklyn as its only facility in the nation’s largest city.

Detainees have long complained about rampant violence, dreadful conditions, severe staffing shortages and the widespread smuggling of drugs and other contraband, some of it facilitated by employees. At the same time, they say they’ve been subject to frequent lockdowns and have been barred from leaving their cells for visits, calls, showers or exercise.

In June, Uriel Whyte, 37, was stabbed to death at the jail. A month later, Edwin Cordero, 36, died after he was hurt in a brawl. At least four people detained at the jail have died by suicide in the last three years.

Cordero’s lawyer, Andrew Dalack, told The New York Times his client was just the victim of “an overcrowded, understaffed and neglected federal jail that is hell on earth.”

At least six MDC Brooklyn staff members have been charged with crimes in the last five years. Some were accused of accepting bribes or providing contraband such as drugs, cigarettes, and cellphones, according to an Associated Press analysis of agency-related arrests.

MDC Brooklyn has also come under fire for its response to debilitating infrastructure breakdowns and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, a week-long power failure sparked unrest among shivering inmates and drew concerns from federal watchdogs. In March 2020, the jail had the first federal inmate to test positive for COVID-19.

As of last November, according to court filings, MDC Brooklyn was operating at about 55% of full staffing, which was taxing to employees and added to its security woes.

Judges and advocates have taken notice, excoriating the Bureau of Prisons for “dangerous, barbaric conditions” and pressing the agency to make improvements. Some judges have moved away from sending defendants to MDC Brooklyn or have given reduced sentences because of the conditions there.

In January, U.S. District Judge Furman took the rare step of allowing Gustavo Chavez, 70, to remain free on bail after his conviction for drug crimes rather than locking him up at the Brooklyn jail to await sentencing.

“Prosecutors no longer even put up a fight, let alone dispute that the state of affairs is unacceptable,” Furman wrote.

In August, U.S. District Judge Gary Brown said he would vacate a 75-year-old defendant’s nine-month sentence for tax fraud and place him on home confinement if the Bureau of Prisons sent him to MDC Brooklyn.

In response, the Bureau of Prisons said it had “temporarily paused” sending any defendants convicted of crimes to the jail to serve their sentences. In a statement Tuesday, the agency said 43 people were currently serving sentences in a minimum-security unit at the jail.

Combs is just the latest celebrity inmate to be locked up at MDC Brooklyn, joining a list that includes Maxwell, Kelly, Bankman-Fried and the rapper Fetty Wap.

Other high-profile detainees have included Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli, NXIVM sex cult founder Keith Raniere, former Mexican government official Genaro Garcia Luna and ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan closed in 2021 after a slew of problems that came to light after Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide there two years earlier.

The jail — next to the courthouse where Combs was arraigned — was plagued by lax security, severe staffing shortages and squalid, unsafe conditions including falling concrete, freezing temperatures and busted cells.

People detained at the facility were relocated to MDC Brooklyn or a medium-security prison in Otisville, New York.

Combs’ lawyers argued in paperwork seeking his release that the Metropolitan Detention Center is not fit for pretrial detention. They cited recent detainee deaths, and the concerns shared by judges that the jail is no place for anyone to be held.

Asked about keeping a high-profile inmate like Combs locked up, particularly in light of Epstein’s 2019 death, Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “We are concerned with anyone’s safety whenever they are detained prior to trial.”

“I do not draw any sort of connection between Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide and what may or may not happen to any other defendant while they are detained pretrial,” he added.

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Wednesday that the rapper is being held in MDC Brooklyn's special housing unit, which offers an extra layer of security but can make trial preparation more onerous. He asked that Combs be moved to a New Jersey jail, but a judge said it's up to the Bureau of Prisons to decide.

An ongoing Associated Press investigation has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons, an agency with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates, 122 facilities and an annual budget of about $8 billion.

AP reporting has revealed dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.

In April, the Bureau of Prisons said it was closing its women’s prison in Dublin, California, known as the “rape club,” giving up on attempts to reform the facility after an AP investigation exposed staff-on-inmate sexual abuse.

This story has been corrected to remove a reference to Michael Cohen, who served time at a different federal prison facility.

Follow Sisak at x.com/mikesisak and Balsamo at x.com/MikeBalsamo1 and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/.

Depicted in this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs, left, sits at the defense table with one of his attorneys, Teny Garagos, during his bail hearing, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson, left, presents her argument for remand during a bail hearing for Sean "Diddy" Combs, second from right, in federal court, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. Combs was accompanied by his attorneys Marc Agnifilo, second from left, and Teny Garagos. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, speaks to the media after leaving Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, speaks to the media outside Manhattan federal court after Combs was ordered held without bail in his federal sex trafficking case, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

In this courtroom sketch, Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky presides during a hearing for Sean Combs, Tuesday Sept. 17, 2024,, in Manhattan Federal Court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, seated right, looks at his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, left, as he delivers his bail argument as Combs' family in the gallery, background, raise their hands indicating to Judge Tarnofsky that they are in attendance, to bolster the defense attorney's bail argument, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Manhattan Federal Court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, center, is flanked by his defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, and Teny Garagos, in Manhattan Federal Court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

FILE -Sean 'Diddy' Combs participates in "The Four" panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - The Metropolitan Detention Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York is shown Tuesday, July 14, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

FILE - Media outlets set up cameras outside the main entrance of the Metropolitan Detention Center Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks forward Taurean Prince always believed he’d make it back this season after undergoing neck surgery in November.

His coach wasn’t so sure.

“It’s cool because honestly, I didn’t think he would play this year,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday as Prince returned to action for the first time since Nov. 4 in a 129-114 loss to the Phoenix Suns. “The fact that he’s worked the way he’s worked to get back on the floor, it’s all about him and who he is.”

Prince underwent surgery in November to repair a herniated disc in his neck. Prince said he didn’t know of anyone who had undergone this type of surgery and returned to play that same season.

That made him all the more intent on accomplishing the feat, even as he was told his rehabilitation would have to go flawlessly for that to be possible.

“I just always told myself that it would be this season,” Prince said. “I never thought it wouldn't.”

He made that possibility a reality by using the same tenacious approach that has enabled the 31-year-old to build a 10-year NBA career. After making 73 starts for the Bucks in 2024-25, he had played eight games off the bench this season before his injury.

Prince noted he has now undergone three surgeries over the last five years, which helped him in this latest comeback because it gave him some idea of what to expect. He also stayed close to the team even when he wasn't playing, as he helped out any way he could.

“When he got injured, we grabbed him and told him, ‘Welcome to the coaching staff,' because that's basically what he was going to be this year,” Rivers said. “And early on, it did look like that. He was in a brace, couldn't really do anything. Then as his neck started healing, hope came.”

Prince praised his wife and children for helping him through this recovery. He also credited the Bucks for always making him feel a part of the team, even when he couldn't play.

“My jersey was still hung up every game, little things like that,” Prince said. “I was always able to assert myself, still speak my mind in film sessions. I never felt like I was on the outside looking in, which helped a lot.”

Prince also commanded the respect of his teammates.

Center Myles Turner noted that Prince stayed upbeat throughout his recovery. He noted how Prince always was encouraging teammates and typically was among the first people to arrive every day.

“He's been the epitome of what it means to be a professional,” Turner said.

Prince still has to shake off plenty of rust as he works his way back. Prince played 18 minutes Tuesday and pulled down three rebounds, but he missed all four of his shots and went scoreless.

“I was mad about not seeing a 3 go down," Prince said. “Taking life day by day, it is what it is. I can't worry about that starting tomorrow. Get to work, and I'll get one to go down (Thursday) in Miami.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Milwaukee Bucks' Taurean Prince gestures during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Milwaukee Bucks' Taurean Prince looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)