Described as ‘disgusting’ and barely larger than a walk-in closet, the tiny Brooklyn jail cell where ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Meduro is being held is worlds away from the the luxurious mansions and sprawling villas he once commanded.
Prison expert Larry Levine told the Daily Mail that Maduro is likely being housed in solitary confinement at the part of Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center reserved for high-profile or especially dangerous or at-risk inmates.
Known as the Special Housing Unit, the single-inmate, 8-by-10-foot cells consist of a steel bed with a one-and-a-half-inch mattress and a thin pillow. Prisoners basically have a 3-by-5-foot space to move.
Levine said the cold reality of prison life will be setting in. ‘He ran a whole country and now he’s sitting in his cell, taking inventory of what he has left, which is a Bible, a towel and a legal pad,’ Levine said.
‘In the SHU, lights are on all the time and they might not have a window in their cell. So the only way they know it’s daylight is when their meals come or when they have to go to court.’
The federal Metropolitan Detention Center has been home to P Diddy, healthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione, singer R. Kelly, ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli and disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maduro has been accustomed to living in luxury at the Miraflores presidential palace in Venezula, which boasts fine furnishings, vaulted ceilings and a ballroom that seats about 250 people. Now he will living inside 8-by-10-foot cells like this one at the Metropolitan Detention Center while he waits for his trial in a Manhattan federal court
Long plagued by poor living conditions, staff shortages, inmate violence and frequent power outages, the Brooklyn jail is now the only federal prison serving New York City.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons closed its Manhattan facility after multimillionaire financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide there in 2019.
Levine said part of the idea behind placing Maduro in the SHU and under constant surveillance is for his own protection.
‘He’s the grand prize right now and he’s a national security issue,’ Levine said. ‘There are gang members there who would like nothing more than to take a knife to him and take him out.
‘They would be called a hero to certain groups of Venezuelans who want Maduro dead.’
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were indicted on drug and weapons charges that carry the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors claim Maduro played a key role in trafficking cocaine into the US for over two decades and allegedly partnered with the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua, which have been designated by the US as foreign terrorist organizations.
Prosecutors claim the former president sold diplomatic passports to assist traffickers seeking to move drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela.
They also allege Maduro and his co-defendants used the drug smuggling scheme for his family’s financial gain.
Nicolas Maduro, the dethroned Venezuelan dictator indicted on major drug trafficking and weapons charges, arrived at a Manhattan federal court on Monday for his arraignment
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn has been called ‘hell on Earth’ by attorneys and their clients, who have filed law suits for the unsanitary and unsafe conditions at the facility
Nicolas Maduro lived in and operated from Venezuela’s Miraflores Palace in Caracas, the presidential residence, before his capture over the weekend
Levine said the cartel might be worried the former leader could ‘flip’ on them and surrender information.
The prison expert said guards will ‘watch him like a hawk’ because Maduro ‘knows too much information’ on drug traffickers and the cartel, who have prison informants.
‘This is how the game is played,’ Levine said. ‘[The prosecutors] will try to use him to get to the cartel, and there could be people in that jail who will want that folk hero status if they took this guy out.’
The Brooklyn detention center, which has been called ‘hell on Earth’ by legal activists, has been plagued by chronic understaffing, constant lockdowns, outbreaks of violence and a rash of suicides and deaths.
The facility, which houses about 1,300 inmates, also has been flagged for having brown water, mold and insects – causing physical and mental health issues for detainees, many who have filed class action lawsuits.
Cilia Flores, 69, is pictured in handcuffs after she landed at a Manhattan helipad and then transported in an armored car for Monday’s arraignment in federal court
Prison expert Larry Levine said Maduro will be ‘watched like a hawk’ because he could have a potential target on his back should the former Venezuelan president snitch on the cartel
Maduro’s tiny prison cell is a far cry from the luxurious comforts the ousted president has been accustomed to while living at Miraflores palace in Caracas, which has luxurious furnishings, living and meeting quarters and a ballroom that holds about 250 people.
While estimates from websites like Celebrity Net Worth show Maduro’s net worth at $2 to $3 million based on his public salaries, his true net worth in unknown because of his alleged involvement in diversion of funds and extensive corruption within his administration.
Nevertheless, the ousted president will still get three square meals per day in Brooklyn lockup, regular showers and access to his high-powered attorneys, which is more than prisoners receive in his own country.
According to a human rights report released by the US Department of State in 2024, Maduro’s agents regularly committed human rights violations and ‘arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings.’
‘There were reports non-state armed groups and criminal gangs engaged in violence, human trafficking, exploitation of Indigenous communities, sexual violence, and recruitment or use of children in illicit activities using force, fraud, or coercion. No action was taken to investigate or prosecute the abuses,’ according to the US Department of State.
During his court appearance on Monday, Nicolas Maduro told the federal judge: ‘I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still President of Venezuela’. He is pictured above during a press conference in Caracas
Human Rights Watch and the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela reported dozens of political prisoners in Venezuela were held for months and sometimes years without their family’s knowledge.
‘These cases of political prisoners who have been cut off from their families and lawyers are a chilling testament to the brutality of repression in Venezuela,’ said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
Levine, who is the founder and director of Wall Street Prison Consultants, said unlike Combs, Maduro will be in near-total lockdown 23 hours a day.
Combs and other inmates like San Bankman-Fried were housed in the area of the MDC known as the ‘4 North’ where they are allowed some contact with others in the same unit.
‘The area called 4 North is a 20-person dormitory for non-violent offenders, but the will never place [Maduro] there because they don’t want anything to happen to him. So he’s in solitary confinement where he’s going to have a hard time sleeping because they never turn off those lights.’
Both Maduro and wife, Cilia Flores, appeared at a Manhattan federal court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges.
Flores is also being housed the women’s unit at MDC Brooklyn.
Maduro, wearing headphones for translation and dark prison clothes, told judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on Monday that he’s a ‘decent man’, while his wife stood nearby with bandages on her face.
According to her attorney Mark Donnelly, the former First Lady of Venezuela allegedly sustained a possible rib fracture and a bruised right eye during the couple’s arrest in Caracas on Saturday.
Levine said Flores, 69, could be transported during the nighttime in an unmarked vehicle to get medical treatment at an outside facility if her needs can’t be met in the in-house medical unit.
The same was done for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who was transported to a nearby hospital to treat an issue with his knee last year.
Levine said Maduro could be housed in solitary confinement until the end of his trial.
‘People have died in a lot of federal detention centers for one of two reasons – because they get attacked and then they don’t get the medical treatment like they should,’ Levine said. ‘More often, they develop health issues and are never given treatment. Prisoners get attacked and the staff doesn’t care. It can be hell for some people.’