In just a few short months, Sean “Diddy” Combs has gone from fine dining to collecting $1 packets of fish in jail for a rainy day.
According to a new report in the New York Times, the music mogul has been reduced to using packets of mackerel, commonly referred to as “macks” at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, as “currency.”
Diddy is being held at the notorious jail as he awaits trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
Related: Here’s How Diddy Spent His First Christmas in Jail
The article, which was published on Sunday, April 13, said inmates at the MDC exchange “macks” among themselves after friends and family members deposit money into their jail commissary accounts.
Diddy, who was once said to be worth $1 billion dollars, is allowed to have a maximum of $180 added to his commissary account every two weeks.
The funds can be used to buy snacks like Snickers (which cost $5.95 for a pack of six), Cheez-Its ($3.65) or electronics like radios.
Diddy is housed in section 4 North, a fourth floor dormitory-style wing with about 20 other men.
This is where government informants and high-profile inmates are held, away from the general population, before they go on trial. Convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried was also housed in the unit until he was recently transferred.
Inmates are allowed visitors on Tuesdays only. Their phone calls are limited to 15 minutes and are subject to monitoring by the government.
Diddy is allowed to watch movies, and he can use a laptop each day from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the unit’s visiting room, but the device is not Wi-Fi enabled.
At his last court appearance in March, reporters in the courtroom noted that his hair had turned gray.
The Times article noted that hair dye is not allowed at the MDC.
The Bad Boy Records founder was arrested in September 2024, and charged with three federal counts — racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecutors added two additional charges — sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution — in a third superseding indictment on Thursday, April 3.
The mogul’s legal team downplayed the charges in a statement to the media.
“These are not new accusers, these are the same individuals, former long-term girlfriends, involved in consensual relationships. This was their private sex life,” his attorneys said.
Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin on May 5, with his trial tentatively set to start on May 12.
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