The bizarre item Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is using as currency in prison
Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs is currently behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being hit with charges of racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation for purposes of prostitution. The music mogul is facing a very different reality from the lavish lifestyle he was previously used to experiencing as a free man.
The Bad Boy rapper is in the same jail as high-profile names such as Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who is serving a 25-year sentence for fraud. Combs will soon discover his fate when his trial begins on May 5th.
The New York Times has provided some insight into what life is like for Combs in prison. Inmates can spend up to $180 every two weeks with money supplied by family and friends. One of the items they’re allowed to purchase is packets of mackerel, costing $1, which are used as currency between inmates.
Other snacks include a six-pack of Snickers for $5.95, Cheez-Its for $3.65, toiletries, radios, and watches. Combs, who now has grey hair and a beard, wears brown jail clothes and has access to an exercise room with yoga mats and a small basketball hoop, as well as a dorm-style room with a ping-pong table and a television.
He can also use a laptop without Wi-Fi between 8am and 3:30pm in the unit’s visiting room at the request of his lawyers to review prosecutors’ evidence.
Speaking on Combs behind bars, Bankman-Fried said in March, “He’s been kind. I’ve made some friends, it’s a weird environment. It’s a combination of a few other high-profile cases and a lot of alleged ex-gangsters. I’ve only seen one piece of him, which is Diddy in prison. He’s been kind to people in the unit, he’s been kind to me.”
He added, “It’s kind of a soul-crushing place for the world in general, and what we see are just the people that are around us on the inside rather than who we are on the outside. Some of them, I think, are thinking, well this is sort of an opportunity to meet people they wouldn’t otherwise get to meet. It makes sense from their perspective, but boy is that not how I think about prison.”