Moldy food, no air conditioning, and extremely poor hygiene reveal the "maggot-like" prison life of SBF

Written by Elizabeth Napolitano, CoinDesk

Compiled by: Peng SUN, Foresight News

In early August 2023, SBF Langdang was imprisoned and was detained at the MDC Prison in Brooklyn, New York City. It is one of the worst prisons in New York City, with conditions so harsh that the National Association of Women Judges called MDC conditions "unreasonable." Media reports stated that at least 10 female inmates and one male inmate were sexually assaulted in the prison; guards were arrested for stealing from prisoners; an inmate suffered a stroke due to chronic malnutrition and died shortly after release; during the 2019 North American cold wave , MDC lacked heating and power supply facilities due to electrical fires, and prisoners had to endure temperatures of more than ten degrees below zero...

SBF lives in MDC and there is no problem of "moral incompatibility". He is also imprisoned here with Ghislaine Maxwell, who helped lure underage girls for sexual abuse, Chinese political prisoner and businessman Guo Wengui, the former president of Honduras, etc.

MDC exterior

SBF's life has been full of ups and downs, from a mansion in the Bahamas to bunk beds, from luxury to prison.

SBF is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, one of the most notorious correctional facilities in the United States. SBF has been in jail for six weeks after failing to get bail, and the conditions here are a far cry from his previous Caribbean mansion. His lawyer said: The Internet speed here is slow, the living area is filthy, the canteen is The meals are also very small.

"[He] lived on bread and water ... and sometimes peanut butter," the defense told a federal judge last month.

However, former prisoners and their lawyers believe the conditions here are worse than they say, similar to what the prisoners of war and Hannibal Lecter faced in the horror movie "The Silence of the Lambs."

But what’s it really like inside an MDC? We took a look at this notorious detention center:

MDC Brooklyn is a large prison complex consisting of two buildings housing more than 1,600 male and female prisoners, many of whom are still awaiting trial. As a mixed-security facility, MDC houses inmates with a variety of criminal histories, including terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking, according to a Bureau of Prisons report. Current prisoners include former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges, and Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, who has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges.

Others who have served short terms in prison include Ghislaine Maxwell, a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein who sexually assaulted and abused young children, and drug manufacturer Martin Shkreli.

Daily life is very regular

SBF's schedule at MDC can be demanding.

An entry manual for the prison shows that inmates wake up at 6 a.m. and must make beds, mop floors and dispose of trash. Inmates like SBF may then go on to work around the prison, such as working as prep cooks in the prison kitchen, providing janitorial services throughout the prison, or assisting in the prison's maintenance shop.

Lunch at 11am and dinner at 4pm. According to a petition on Change.org, prison meals are supposed to include turkey, rice, vegetables or fruit, but inmates are actually eating cold cuts, sandwich bread, moldy butter cakes and other "Unrecognizable food in the kitchen".

SBF is a vegetarian, and if he doesn't like the cafeteria food, he can use his $150 commissary allowance each week to buy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, valued at $3.65 each. According to prison rules, he could buy up to two such sandwiches a day.

Shared dormitory, no heating, no playground

In addition to eating and working, prisoners are allowed to rest. However, MDC prisons do not have playgrounds for recreational activities. Therefore, SBF can only play cards, chat, and watch TV with other prisoners in the indoor activity room.

The SBF also has access to five separate showers, but there are many people bathing and the lines are often long, according to former inmates. Meanwhile, SBFs may live in dormitories with bunk beds, but they may also be held in protective custody and live in their own cells.

Regardless, getting a good night's sleep inside an MDC prison may not be easy. In an MDC prisoner's prison recollection, the lights in the dormitory and other rooms in the prison were dim 24 hours a day. In addition, former inmates said it was common to hear inmates yelling in their cells throughout the night.

Cold staggering is another problem the SBF may encounter at MDC Prison in Brooklyn. According to several local news reports, many areas of the MDC were unheated and most locations lacked air conditioning.