Diddy is in a Special Housing Unit (SHU) similar to Virginia's Red Onion State Prison

Sean Combs is in solitary.Photo byAP video screenshot Elizabeth Williams

Diddy is in special housing

On Tuesday, Sean Combs, 54, was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. NPR says this prison has been described as "hell on earth" and an "ongoing tragedy."

The New York Post reports that Diddy is in the SHU (Special Housing Unit) because of his high-profile status and the nature of the charges against him. Solitary confinement is meant to limit contact with guards and other prisoners.

Diddy is in solitary confinementPhoto byAP video screenshot Elizabeth Williams

Is MDC like Red Onion?

The conditions inside MDC sound similar to those at Red Onion Supermax Prison in Wise County, Virginia. Red Onion was completed in 1998 and is listed as one of the 15 worst prisons in the world.

Often referred to as the worst of the worst" more than two-thirds of the inmates are confined in solitary 23 hours a day in 8' x 10' cells with 6" x 24" windows for light. Meals and medication are placed on a tray and slid through the cell door.

No specific details of Sean Combs's lodgings have been mentioned, but in 2019, it was revealed that MDC's SHU prisoners were confined 23 hours a day in a seven-foot-by-nine-foot cage.