NEW YORK, Jan 5 (GeokHub) — Just days after being seized in a Caracas safe house, ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is now being held in a Brooklyn detention facility long criticized for harsh and sometimes dangerous conditions, where he is likely to be confined to his cell for up to 23 hours a day, according to former prison officials.
Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, are facing U.S. drug trafficking charges following a dramatic overnight raid that led to their capture and transfer to the United States. They were taken by U.S. Navy vessel, flown to New York and lodged late Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the city’s only federal jail for pretrial detainees.
Both are scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday.
Opened in 1994, MDC Brooklyn houses about 1,300 male and female detainees and has previously held high-profile inmates including socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez. The facility has drawn years of complaints from inmates, defense attorneys and judges over conditions described as unsafe and inhumane.
The jail gained notoriety in 2019 when detainees were left without heat or electricity during winter after a fire knocked out power. In 2024, two inmates were killed by fellow prisoners using improvised weapons, prompting a federal crackdown on violence and contraband.
Maxwell, who was held at MDC Brooklyn before her 2021 conviction for aiding Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minors, complained of raw sewage leaks and rodent droppings in her cell. Lawyers for Combs said guards once intervened to stop an inmate attempting to attack him with a homemade knife.
Prison officials did not respond to requests for comment, but the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said in a September report that conditions at the jail have improved due to increased staffing and security reforms.
Security experts say Maduro’s status makes him especially vulnerable.
“All inmates at MDC Brooklyn face some level of risk,” said Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor. “That risk is heightened for someone like Maduro, who could be targeted either by gangs or by an individual seeking notoriety.”
Maduro Likely to Be Isolated
Former MDC Brooklyn warden Cameron Lindsay said prison authorities are likely to isolate Maduro from the general population and strictly control staff access.
“I would expect him to be placed alone on a secured floor,” Lindsay said. “This is a highly sensitive, high-security detention.”
Under such conditions, Maduro would likely spend 23 hours a day in his cell, receive meals there, be allowed one hour of exercise in a small enclosed area, and shower several times a week. Lindsay said similar restrictions would likely apply to Flores.
While Combs was housed in a dormitory-style unit during his detention, Maduro’s confinement is expected to be far more restrictive due to security concerns.
Federal judges have previously criticized MDC Brooklyn’s conditions. In 2024, a Manhattan judge described the jail as an “ongoing tragedy,” though the same judge later noted improvements in 2025 after staffing levels increased.
The Bureau of Prisons reported a decline in inmate violence last year and a reduction in population from roughly 1,600 to about 1,300. Even so, federal prosecutors announced criminal charges in September against 25 people connected to violence and contraband smuggling inside the jail, including a former guard accused of sneaking drugs into the facility and an alleged gang member accused of hiding ceramic weapons in snack packaging.
For Maduro, the fall from presidential palace to one of America’s most scrutinized jails underscores the dramatic reversal of fortune following his capture.
