Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is reportedly on suicide watch at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Manhattan, according to Larry Levine, a former inmate and founder of Wall Street Prison Consultants. Levine shared his concerns with NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield on Thursday, stating that Combs is being kept in isolation due to safety concerns.
“Somebody will take him out, for sure,” Levine said, explaining why Combs is unable to enter traditional housing. “Reality has hit him, and I understand he has a shrink coming by his cell to see him several times a day.”
Combs was arrested on Monday on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges and is likely to remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The facility has a history of chronic understaffing, constant lockdowns, outbreaks of violence, delayed access to medical care, and a rash of suicides and deaths. There are 1,218 people at the facility, which is located in the Eastern New York Judicial District, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Combs’ lawyers have expressed concerns about the conditions at the facility, citing a June 7 incident where an inmate named Uriel Whyte was stabbed to death while awaiting trial on gun charges. Another inmate, Edwin Cordero, died after being injured in a jail fight in August.
Cordero’s lawyer described the facility as “an overcrowded, understaffed and neglected federal jail that is hell on earth.” The prison has faced criticism from judges and advocates for its “dangerous, barbaric conditions.”
In response to these concerns, the federal Bureau of Prisons has stated that it is addressing the staffing and other challenges at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The agency is working to add permanent correctional and medical staff, remedy over 700 backlogged maintenance requests, and address judges’ concerns.
The Associated Press has investigated and reported on similar issues at other facilities within the Bureau of Prisons, including dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths, and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.
