The basics:
- Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs sentenced to 50 months for interstate prostitution convictions
- Attorneys request placement at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey for rehab access
- Judge can recommend prison placement, but Bureau of Prisons has final say
- Legal team plans to appeal; presidential pardon has also requested
Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs want the hip-hop mogul to serve out his 50-month prison sentence on interstate prostitution charges at a low-security facility in New Jersey.
In an Oct. 6 letter to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, defense attorney Teny Geragos urged the court to consider putting Combs at Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix “in order to address drug abuse issues and to maximize family visitation and rehabilitative efforts.”
“We request that the Court strongly recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that Mr. Combs be placed at FCI Fort Dix for RDAP [Residential Drug Abuse Program] purposes and any other available educational and occupational programs,” he wrote.
FCI Fort Dix is one of several dozen federal prisons with residential drug treatment programs, The Associated Press noted. It is located on the grounds of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County.
The facility has also housed several other high-profile inmates over the years, including “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, actor Robert Downey Jr. and television personality Joe Giudice.
Subramanian is permitted to recommend a prison for Combs, but ultimately the Bureau of Prisons has the final say.
Combs was sentenced Oct. 3 to four years and two months after a jury convicted him to two counts of transporting former girlfriends for prostitution. He was also ordered to pay a $500,000 fine.
Presidential appeal?
Last week’s proceedings took place at the U.S. District Courthouse in lower Manhattan. During, the 55-year-old begged Subramanian for mercy, saying, “My actions were disgusting, shameful and sick. I was sick from the drugs; I was out of control. I needed help, and I didn’t get the help,” NBC News reported.
He went on to say, “I lost all of my businesses and lost my career and destroyed my reputation, and most of all, I lost my self-respect. I have been humbled and broken to my core. I hate myself right now. I’ve been stripped down to nothing.”
“I can’t change the past, but I can change the future,” Combs also told Subramanian.
In July, Combs was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
For the prosecution charges he was convicted of, Combs faced a maximum of 20 years behind bars. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Combs to 11 years in prison, while his lawyers had sought no more than 14 months.
Subramanian ended up going with just over four years, telling Combs it will be “hard time in prison, away from your family, friends and community, but you will have a life afterward.”
Combs will get credit for the time he has already served at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his 2024 arrest.
His legal team has said they plan to appeal the sentence. Also, President Donald Trump confirmed that Combs has asked for a presidential pardon in connection with the case. However, he did not say if he’d grant the request, CNN reported.
