Nicolas Maduro, Ghislaine Maxwell and Diddy: Inside Brooklyn jail that holds America's most notorious inmates

The fate of Nicolas Maduro is one that deserves to be studied. From ruling as the President of Venezuela for more than 12 years to being dethroned overnight by a coup, his life's trajectory has been amazing and shocking at the same time.

And to add more worth to wonder, he is now being held at a New York prison that also houses some of the most notorious and famous inmates of the United States, Ghislaine Maxwell and Luigi Mangione.

It is The Metropolitan Detention Centre or MDC Brooklyn, where those awaiting trial in federal courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn are held. These individuals will serve their time in another institution once sentenced.

The notorious history of MDC Brooklyn

From alleged gangsters and drug traffickers to white collar criminals, this jail has housed them all.

Previously it has held sex offenders such as Sean "Diddy" Combs, R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and Sam Bankman-Fried. Opened in the early 1990s, the building houses about 1,300 male and female inmates. Previously, the MDC has had problems such as cases of violence from inmates and guards, suicides, sewage leaks and power outages. In 2007, prison guards were convicted of beating inmates and in 2018, for sexually abusing female inmates.

In 2020, two inmates died at the prison with one being pepper-sprayed by guards. In 2021, Maxwell who was held there before being sentenced to 20 years on sex trafficking and other charges claimed she faced raw sewage, water deprivation and “hyper-surveillance” by overbearing guards.In an August 2024 sentencing, Judge Gary J Brown said judges hesitated to send people to the facility due to its "dangerous, barbaric conditions."

“Allegations of inadequate supervision, unbridled assaults, and lack of sufficient medical care are supported by an increasing body of evidence, with certain instances that are irrefutable. Chaos reigns, along with uncontrolled violence,” he said. Maduro was to remain in jail until his trial which began in New York today. Depending on his placement, Maduro could have met his co-defendant Hugo Carvajal, a former Venezuelan spy chief, or Anderson Zambrani-Pacheco, an alleged member of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang who is in prison. Currently, the co-founder of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia and Luigi Mangione who is accused of killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

Attempts at improvement

The federal Bureau of Prisons has tried to improve conditions in the past few years by boosting staff numbers and fixing electrics, plumbing, heating and cooling systems. “In short, MDC Brooklyn is safe for the inmates and staff” adding that a decreased inmate population had led to a “substantial decrease” in crime and contraband, said the bureau in September.