Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in New York. Former inmates include Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, Sam Bankman-Fried and R Kelly. Photo / John Lamparski, AFP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in New York. Former inmates include Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, Sam Bankman-Fried and R Kelly. Photo / John Lamparski, AFP
Nicolas Maduro will reside in a New York prison notorious for bad conditions and mistreatment of inmates.
The Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) has hosted high-profile figures ranging from Ghislaine Maxwell to Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The Venezuelan President arrived in the United States yesterday after he was captured by Americanforces in a special operation in the early hours.
Maduro was later filmed being escorted by officials, first wearing a blue hoodie, and later a black one, as he smiled, gave a thumbs-up, and wished federal agents a “happy New Year”.
By this time, both Maduro and Cilia Flores, 69, his wife, had been indicted in New York, charged with narco-terrorism and possession of machine guns.
He was then transported via helicopter to the Brooklyn jail.
As well as Maxwell, convicted of child sex-trafficking, and Combs, guilty of transportation for prostitution, former inmates include Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Mexican drug lord, Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto scammer, and R Kelly, the singer convicted of sex-trafficking.
“Maduro and his wife will soon face the full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil,” US President Donald Trump told reporters during a news conference at the weekend.
The prison has earned a reputation as one of the worst federal jails in the US after a string of investigations into prisoner abuse and poor conditions.
Before Combs’s trial last year, his lawyers argued that “several courts in this District have recognised that the conditions at MDC are not fit for pre-trial detention”.
“Just earlier this summer, an inmate was murdered,” the lawyers said. “At least four inmates have died by suicide there in the past three years.”
Venezuelans demonstrate support for US President Donald Trump and celebrate the rendition of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in front of the Metropolitan Detention Centre, a federal prison in Brooklyn, New York. Photo / William Volcov, AFP
‘One of the most troubled’ federal facilities
Home to around 1300 inmates, both male and female, the high-rise building is wedged between the Brooklyn waterfront and an expressway. Security is high and the jail has only limited space for recreational activities.
Cameron Lindsay, a former warden, called it “one of the most troubled” federal facilities in the US prison system, with a “unique history of staff misconduct”.
In 2007, 11 MDC prison guards were charged with beating inmates in an attack which left a pool of blood and clumps of hair in one cell.
The guards were accused of covering up the beatings by filing false reports on the attacks, which occurred in 2002 and 2006.
The jail also endured a sexual assault scandal, with a 2018 investigation leading to three prison officers being convicted of sexual abuse of female inmates, including one lieutenant who repeatedly raped a prisoner.
In 2019, there was a public outcry over the MDC’s poor conditions after a week-long power failure left the building without heating or lighting during one of the coldest weeks of the year.
Congressmen who toured the facility in the aftermath reported “unacceptable conditions”, with inmates shut up for long periods of time and banging on their cells in pleas for help.
In 2020, an inmate died after prison staff used pepper spray, which has led to an investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general. In May of the same year, another inmate at the facility died.
In 2024, an inmate, Uriel Whyte, was stabbed to death while awaiting trial on gun charges.
Inmates have spoken out about the “very violent” scenes that have taken place inside the prison.
One inmate, identified only as Eli, told Spectrum News NY1 in 2024: “One guy was stabbed in the eye with a makeshift knife”.
The inmate continued: “And these knives, again, I have never been to jail. This is my first time in jail, but these knives are six, nine inches long sometimes, you know, homemade with materials from the steel walls.
“It’s very violent. There’s stabbings at least a couple times a week.”
Maduro is expected to remain at the prison until he stands trial, though he could make his first appearance in court as soon as tomorrow.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani criticised Trump’s operation, and said he had been “briefed” on the couple’s “planned imprisonment in federal custody”.
Prisoners at the facility are only held there while awaiting trial, before being transported to another institution to serve their time.
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