Sean “Diddy” Combs has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement at a federal prison in New Jersey after a report alleged he had been enjoying a VIP lifestyle behind bars.
The music mogul was moved from his dormitory-style accommodation at Fort Dix to a special housing unit, known as the SHU, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The reported transfer followed an NBC News investigation based on interviews with four men who had spent time in the same prison unit as Combs. The Bureau of Prisons declined to confirm or deny the move.
“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not comment on the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including quarters assignment or whether a particular individual is the subject of allegations, investigations, or sanctions,” a spokesperson said.
Combs arrived at Fort Dix in October after being sentenced to 50 months in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters.
The report alleged that he had spent thousands of dollars a month maintaining a luxury lifestyle in the low-security facility. Former inmates said he had obtained contraband mobile phones and premium liquor, including Hennessy.
They also alleged that he paid fellow inmates to prepare special meals, clean toilet and shower areas before he used them, do his laundry, make his bed and provide Chinese-style massages.
NBC News also obtained photographs and videos from inside the prison, including footage that appeared to show Combs using a contraband mobile phone.
What solitary confinement means at Fort Dix
Federal prisons may move inmates to a special housing unit while allegations are investigated, according to Vito Maraviglia, a retired Bureau of Prisons special investigator who worked at Fort Dix in the late 1990s.
“We’d put people in the SHU while we were gathering evidence,” he said.
Two former Fort Dix inmates said prisoners in the unit are locked in a cell with one other person for at least 23 hours a day. They are allowed only limited personal items, such as a book or two and a wind-up radio, and must wear an orange jumpsuit.
Meals are delivered to the cells, access to the prison shop is restricted and showers are limited to a few days a week. The men said prisoners otherwise have to wash at a sink.
It is not Combs’ first reported stay in solitary confinement at Fort Dix. He was placed in the SHU last summer after an altercation with another inmate, and was later removed from a drug treatment programme.
The allegations prompted criticism from figures including 50 Cent and attorney Gloria Allred, who represents a woman suing Combs over an alleged rape more than 20 years ago. Combs has denied those allegations and the case is ongoing.
“These serious allegations against Mr. Combs cry out for an immediate federal investigation and appropriate federal action including a prosecution if the allegations of having and using a cell phone while incarcerated can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” Allred said.
Combs’ trial centred on drug-fuelled sexual encounters known as “freak offs”, involving male sex workers and former girlfriends including singer Cassie, who previously sued him alleging years of physical and sexual abuse. That case was settled, with Combs denying wrongdoing.
A New York jury found Combs not guilty of the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, which could have resulted in a life sentence.
