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- ‘Hell on earth’: Inside the Brooklyn jail reportedly housing Nicolás Maduro (businessinsider.com)
Maduro and Wife Reportedly Headed to Notorious Brooklyn Jail
Brooklyn, NY – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are reportedly settling into a new, decidedly less luxurious, residence: the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn. The pair are said to be awaiting their first court appearance at the federal prison, a facility with a reputation for less-than-stellar conditions.
Reports from multiple outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, indicate that Maduro and Flores were escorted to the MDC late Saturday after arriving in New York. While the MDC has yet to officially confirm the high-profile transfer, the facility is no stranger to housing notable defendants.
Its past roster includes music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case. Also currently housed at the MDC is Luigi Mangioni, awaiting trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The MDC has been a frequent target of criticism for its “inhumane” conditions, with some even calling it “hell on earth.” Last year, the Legal Aid Society issued a press release highlighting the jail’s “documented history of violence, medical neglect, and human and civil rights violations,” citing reports of everything from lack of heat in winter to “maggot-infested food.”
The facility’s reputation is so widely known that in 2024, a federal judge in Brooklyn made headlines by creating a special exemption in a sentencing to help a 74-year-old tax fraud defendant avoid the MDC, allowing him to serve his time under house arrest instead.
Just last month, Brooklyn federal prosecutors announced charges against 25 individuals in 12 separate cases related to violence and contraband smuggling within the Sunset Park facility. “Over the years, MDC has become synonymous with egregious neglect and abuse with the people incarcerated,” the Legal Aid Society stated in a June press release opposing ICE detentions at the jail.
The arrival of Maduro and Flores comes on the heels of a surprising announcement from President Donald Trump on Saturday, who declared that the US had captured the Venezuelan president and his wife after a “large-scale strike” on Venezuela. Trump stated that the US plans to “run the country” until a safe transition of power can be facilitated, and that US oil companies will now be free to “spend billions” on development in the South American nation.
Maduro has been on the radar of the US Department of Justice for years. In 2020, Manhattan federal prosecutors indicted him as a leader of the Cartel de Las Soles, an alleged drug-trafficking organization run by Venezuela’s military and political elite. An expanded indictment unsealed on Saturday added Maduro’s wife and son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, identified as “The Prince,” as defendants, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging effort to traffic drugs to the US for personal enrichment.
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- ‘Hell on earth’: Inside the Brooklyn jail reportedly housing Nicolás Maduro (businessinsider.com)