What Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Life In Prison Is Really Like

Now that Diddy is behind bars and away from the baby oil, some folks are wondering how the music executive-turned-accused sexual predator is doing. Fifty-five-year-old Sean Combs was arrested back in September 2024 on charges of kidnapping, drugging, and violently coercing women in order to "fulfil his sexual desires," as the BBC quotes prosecutors. These charges were linked to alleged drug-fueled orgies at Diddy's mansion called "freak offs" that were apparently connected to an entire "criminal enterprise" dating back to 2008.

When Diddy was arrested, a federal judge deemed him a "serious flight risk" and denied his request for bail, per the BBC. The rapper was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York, where he's remained during the lead-up to his trial. By all accounts, the MDC isn't what we'd call a pleasant place. Per CNN, it has been described as "disgusting," "horrifying," and "hell on earth." Diddy's attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told the outlet that "it's a very difficult place to be an inmate." 

Thus far, it looks like Diddy hasn't been coping too well. The New York Post reported that a source said he's been "throwing tantrums" — not over being behind bars, but because alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione has gotten more attention than him. And then there's Diddy's alleged creepy perk, per the New York Post. It's one that suits his charges all too well: There are apparently grates in one of the rooms in Diddy's cell block that allow him and others to peep into the women's area below.

It would be an extreme understatement to say that Diddy's life at Brooklyn's MDC is vastly different from waking up in his $61.5 million Beverly Hills mansion. He's one of the richest hip-hop stars in the world, after all. Lawyer Michael Cohen, who recently served as Donald Trump's attorney, told CNN about Diddy's daily life in prison. "When he wakes up, he's staring at cinder block painted white walls, as opposed to whatever the decor of his mansions were," Cohen said. "He's waking up on a steel bed with a one-and-a-half-inch mattress, no pillow, in an 8-by-10-foot cell that I can assure you is disgusting," he later added. As for food, there are hot dogs, chicken thighs, and thin-pattied "murder burgers" that one former inmate said taste like shoe leather. Clothing consists of a tan jumpsuit or a brown T-shirt and shorts.

MDC, in particular, has a reputation for being a nasty place. In 2024, a prison brawl resulted in the death of inmate Edwin Cordero. As reported by The New York Times, Cordero's lawyer, Andrew Dalack, called the conditions at MDC awful and his client "another victim of MDC. Brooklyn, an overcrowded, understaffed and neglected federal jail that is hell on earth." That same year, Judge Gary Brown refused to send a criminal to MDC because "chaos reigns, along with uncontrolled violence," per the BBC. In 2019, former MDC warden Cameron Lindsay called the facility "one of the most troubled, if not the most troubled facility in the Bureau of Prisons," as The New York Times quotes. Even if these reports are embellished, Diddy definitely isn't having a good time.

While we don't have any information about Diddy's specific schedule at MDC, we assume that he's having a hard time coping with being behind bars. "There's no books at the early part, so he is really dealing with a lot right now," Michael Cohen said of Diddy's cell while speaking to CNN. On the other hand, the New York Post says that Diddy's block — the 4 North unit — has more relaxed rules than other parts of the facility. So while books seem to be off the table, tablets aren't — inmates have offline tablets for watching movies, listening to music, and playing games. There's even air hockey, ping-pong, board games, card games, and a gym.

Despite such tax-funded amenities, an unnamed source told the New York Post that Diddy was "throwing tantrums" over Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione shares the same facility, MDC, with Diddy, and the rapper is apparently jealous over the attention that Mangione gets. The unnamed source claimed that Diddy said Mangione was on his "s**** list." "Even in prison, Diddy's ego is bigger than life," the source added. A former member of Diddy's circle echoed these sentiments. "He always wants to be the center of everything," they said. "If he feels like anyone takes his attention, he doesn't take it well. He gets pissed off, and if he has the power to do it, he makes the other person's life miserable." Maybe that's why so many stars can't stand him.

Aside from wearing tan, eating hot dogs, staring at his cell wall, and grousing about Luigi Mangione, prosecutors claim that Diddy has been calling potential witnesses to try and influence them. According to the BBC, Diddy's prosecutors accuse him of making "relentless efforts" to "corruptly influence witness testimony." Specifically, they accused him of using other inmates' phones to make three-way calls to talk to people with whom he is not allowed to contact. They also reportedly have recordings of Diddy telling his family to talk to witnesses.

Prosecutors also said that Diddy has been masterminding pro-Diddy social media campaigns to try and sway public opinion in his favor. Via "multiple texts" and "multiple calls," they said, Diddy instructed an unknown person named "witness two" to make an Instagram post that countermanded the testimony of Dawn Richard. Richard is one of the individuals who brought up charges against Diddy in September 2024, including sexual assault and battery, refusal to pay her, denying her food and sleep and more. 

According to the prosecutors, after collaborating with "witness two," Diddy paid the individual. On top of this, he apparently monitored audience engagement of the post to try and determine how it affected the jurors in his case. If all of this information is true, then Diddy has been quite busy behind bars, beyond preparing his case and doing things like playing ping-pong and not reading books.

There's one more piece to the portrait of Diddy's time behind bars. It's one that veers toward speculation but has multiple people claiming it's true: Diddy's peephole. Former inmates at the MDC claim that there's a room in the 4 North unit with a grate in the ground that has little holes in it. As the tale goes, those holes afford a view to the level below where women are housed. "If you lay down, you can look through the holes and talk to the women one floor down and see them," former mob enforcer Gene Borrello told the New York Post. Gang member G-lock took the more blunt route and said, "They'll show their t*** and play with their c****."

While these claims sound like the hallucinatory fever dreams of women-deprived inmates, Borrello said that Diddy could even arrange one of his "freak offs" behind bars if he really wanted to. Borrello also said that most of the women visible on the third floor are not the kinds of "models, professional strippers and others" that Diddy would have typically conscripted for his mansion-side orgies. While the existence of this fourth-to-third flour grate remains unsubstantiated, as does Diddy's potential usage of it to view or communicate with the inmates on the third floor, it's at least within the realm of possibility and worth mentioning. As for Diddy's preoccupation with baby oil? "They used to have it in the commissary," Borrello said. "But no more."

Here are some more stars who got locked up in 2024.