Sean 'Diddy' Combs' new life inside jail where Ghislaine Maxwell was held

Despite offering US$50million in bail and willing to give up his passport, the disgraced hip hop mogul Sean Combs is being held in custody ahead of a trial on a raft of sex trafficking crimes

Hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has been sent to the same notorious jail Ghislaine Maxwell was held - described as more "restrictive" than America's only supermax prison.

The musician is being detained at New York's Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), which housed the disgraced British socialite before she was convicted of sex trafficking.

Diddy is in jail after he was denied bond. He has been charged with abusing women for more than a decade and presiding over a sordid empire of sexual "Freak Offs". Today the 54-year-old woke for the first in the MDC - a jail known for its brutal, sometimes fatal, conditions.

During her time inside, Maxwell's lawyers claimed she was held in harsher conditions than the world's most heinous criminals. Attorneys for Prince Andrew's pal said conditions inside the MDC are more "restrictive" conditions than supermax prison, ADX Florence.

At one point, they said the threats were so great against her that a $1 million bounty had been placed on her head while inside.
Now inside, Diddy can be expected to be monitored 24 hours a day while subjected to humiliating strip and body-cavity searches.

A jail insider told the Mirror: "Some people have gone into the MDC and never come out. It is notoriously tough, and there is no doubt Diddy will, like Maxwell, be a target inside. His lawyers will be doing all they can to get him out. It is a monumental fall from grace. One day he's living the millionaire life, and now he's in hell on earth."

His new lodgings are a far cry from the lifestyle he - like Maxwell before - once lived. MDC's meal plan includes dinner options such as turkey roast or tofu with rice, boiled potatoes, beets, and whole wheat bread with a drink.

While appearing in court on Tuesday, Diddy tried to avoid being sent to the MDC by offering a $50 million bond package to keep him out of jail before his trial. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, held a stack of six passports - which he said belonged to Combs and five of his family members - and said the rapper planned to sell his private jet to illustrate he was not a flight risk.

But a judge ordered he be sent to jail ahead of his criminal trial after prosecutors argued that the music mogul could try to flee the country or attempt to meddle with the investigation of sex trafficking charges against him.

The judge cited Combs's alleged history of violence, which prosecutors said was "both spontaneous and premeditated." "I don't know that you can control yourself," Judge Robyn Tarnofsky said. The music mogul is charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. The indictment against him lists allegations that go back to 2008.

He's accused of inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes dayslong sexual performances dubbed "Freak Offs." The indictment also refers obliquely to an attack on his former girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, that was captured on video.

"Not guilty," Combs told a court, standing to speak after expressionlessly listening to the allegations with his uncuffed hands folded in his lap. After Judge Tarnofsky declined to grant him bail, Combs took a long swig from a water bottle and was led out of court, turning toward family members in the audience as he went. "Mr Combs is a fighter. He's going to fight this to the end. He's innocent," his Agnifilo said after court. He plans to appeal the bail decision.

The Bad Boy Records founder is accused of sexually abusing and using physical force toward women and getting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all. Prosecutors say he also tried to bribe and intimidate witnesses and victims to keep them quiet. "Simply put, he is a serial abuser and a serial obstructor," Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson told the court.

Agnifilo acknowledged Combs was "not a perfect person," saying he'd used drugs and had been in "toxic relationships" but was getting treatment and therapy. "The evidence in this case is extremely problematic," the attorney told the court. He maintained that the case stemmed from one long-term, consensual relationship that faltered amid infidelity. He didn't name the woman, but the details matched those of Combs' decade-long involvement with Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura.

The "Freak Offs," Agnifilo contended, were an expansion of that relationship and not coercive. "Is it sex trafficking? Not if everybody wants to be there," Agnifilo said, arguing that authorities were intruding on his client's private life.

In court papers, prosecutors said they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses and expect the number to grow.
They said they would use financial, travel, and billing records, electronic data and communications, and videos of the "Freak Offs" to prove their case.

Diddy faces a sentence of up to life in prison, and a minimum of 15 years, if convicted of the three felony counts. Maxwell was detained in the MDC before being found guilty of teenage sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison.