Sean “Diddy” Combs is being placed on regular suicide watch while awaiting trial at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, sources told Fox News Digital.
The source added, “This is standard practice for public figures admitted to federal facilities and is not indicative of his mental state.”
Combs was arrested in a New York hotel lobby on Monday, a separate source confirmed to Fox News Digital. According to an indictment unsealed Tuesday, Combs was charged with organized criminal conspiracy, sex trafficking by coercion, fraud or extortion and transportation for the purpose of prostitution.
A spokesperson for Diddy said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, “Mr. Combs remains strong, healthy and focused on his defense. He is committed to fighting this lawsuit and has full confidence in both his legal team and the truth.”
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According to an indictment unsealed Tuesday, Sean “Diddy” Combs was charged with organized criminal conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation for prostitution. (Munawar Hossain)
Rapper Combs pleaded not guilty hours after an indictment detailing alleged sex crimes was unsealed. A judge on Wednesday denied a request by his defense team to have him await trial on house arrest in his $48 million island mansion in Miami Beach, Florida, rather than the Brooklyn federal prison where he is headed.
When Fox News Digital reached out to Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center for comment on Diddy being on suicide watch, a team at the center responded, “Due to privacy, safety and security reasons, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) does not provide information regarding the detention status or internal security practices of specific inmates.”
“Mr. Combs is strong, healthy and focused on his defense. He is committed to fighting this case and has full confidence in both his legal team and the truth.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg via Getty Images)
Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center has housed many high-profile inmates, including R. Kelly and Ghislaine Maxwell.
In 2022, Kelly was convicted of fraud and sex trafficking charges and was under suicide watch in federal prison.
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In 2022, R. Kelly was placed on suicide watch in federal prison after being convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in his most recent trial in New York. At the time, his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, told Fox News Digital that “he was being placed on suicide watch purely for punitive reasons, in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.” (Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP)
“He was placed on suicide watch purely for punitive reasons, which is a violation of the Eighth Amendment,” his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, told Fox News Digital at the time.
Days later, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on June 29, 2022, ordered to pay a $100,000 fine, and removed from suicide watch at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
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Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of helping her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls, was placed on suicide watch days before her sentencing hearing, even though she was not suicidal, her lawyers announced in June 2022. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Maxwell, who was convicted that same month of helping her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls, was placed on suicide watch days before her sentencing hearing, even though she had not had suicidal thoughts, her lawyers announced in June 2022.
Maxwell's lawyers, who had previously complained about her detention, argued that she was “not suicidal”.
“Ms. Maxwell was suddenly removed from the general prison population and returned to her cell, this time without clothing, toothpaste, soap or legal papers. She was issued a 'suicide smock' and given several rolls of toilet paper upon request,” they continued in the letter. “A psychologist evaluated Ms. Maxwell and determined that she was not suicidal.”
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“I met with Ms. Maxwell (97 minutes after her arrival at the facility) and she is not suicidal,” her attorney, Bobby C. Sternheim, wrote at the time.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons opened the facility, known as MDC Brooklyn, as a prison in the early 1990s. It is primarily used for post-arrest detention of people awaiting trial in federal court in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Other inmates are serving short sentences after being convicted of a crime.
The facility, located in an industrial area of Brooklyn's waterfront, holds about 1,200 detainees.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
