Sean “Diddy” Combs rang in 2023 with a bang, celebrating the new year with his then-girlfriend Yung Miami and celebrity pals aboard a 278-foot, $117 million superyacht as it cruised the Caribbean waters of St. Barts.
At midnight, the hip-hop mogul popped gold bottles of Ace of Spades champagne on the deck of the luxury boat, which features a helipad, a baby grand piano, a Jacuzzi and a wine cellar.
Some 20 months later, the troubled rap star — who was arrested on September 16 and indicted on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering — is sitting in a tiny, colorless cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
(He denied all charges against him and entered a not guilty plea.) Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo has expressed concerns about his high-profile client’s safety inside the notoriously dangerous jail.
“The food is inedible, from what I’ve been told,” Agnifilo said in a September 17 interview after Diddy was denied bail, adding, “It’s violent. Someone like Mr. Combs might be a target for certain things.
We can’t let that happen.”
While Us Weekly does not know the exact current conditions at MDC, several former inmates have discussed their experiences.
They tell Us the rapper’s new reality is a harsh one, wildly different from his pampered life at home at his $35 million, 8,000-square-foot Miami mansion, where he’s protected by private security guards and surrounded by friends and family members.
(The rapper, 54, is dad to Quincy, 33, Justin, 30, Christian, 26, Chance, 18, twins D’Lila and Jessie, 17, and Love, 22 months.) “It’s a terrible, horrible place,” an inmate who spent three months in MDC in 2019 says.
“There’s no air movement, and the food is slop.”
Diddy — worth an estimated $600 million — may be subjected to regular strip searches, limited shower access and little contact with loved ones, not to mention the threat of violence.
Prison consultant Sam Mangel describes sections of the facility as “pure hell,” adding, “The MDC is probably the worst federal detention center in the country.”