Inside Venezuela's Most Notorious Prison: The Harsh Realities of Nicolás Maduro's Detention

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After his capture from a heavily guarded compound in Caracas, ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has been locked up in one of the United States’ most notorious detention facilities: the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC Brooklyn) in New York City — a jail long criticised for its harsh and inhumane conditions.

It has a long list of high-profile inmates, including Ghislaine Maxwell — a sex offender associated with Jeffrey Epstein — and hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.

Former president of the Central American nation Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2024, also spent time in the Brooklyn prison. Hernández was pardoned by US President Donald Trump three weeks before the US operation in Venezuela.

MDC Brooklyn has long been criticized for issues such as overcrowding, frequent power outages, and living conditions deemed by many as falling well short of basic humanitarian standards.

Since its establishment in 1994, MDC Brooklyn has served as a holding facility for roughly 1,300 individuals, both men and women, who are awaiting federal trials in New York City.

As the only federal prison in NYC, the MDC Brooklyn has been plagued by issues around its harsh conditions for years.

In a notable 2023 development, the federal government reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving approximately 1,600 inmates, agreeing to pay around $10 million.

In 2016, a report from the National Association of Women Judges found that conditions at MDC Brooklyn violated both the American Bar Association’s standards and the United Nations’ Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

In the same year, New York Public Radio reported over 100 women were found to be trapped in two windowless rooms inside MDC Brooklyn. Two dozen of them were transferred to the short-term facility from a women’s prison in late 2012, with promises from authorities that they would only stay there for 18 months.

In 2019, a week-long power outage in MDC Brooklyn left the detainees without heat or light in the middle of winter, with temperatures reaching minus 16C, National Public Radio reported.

A justice department investigation later found that MDC Brooklyn and the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) management, which operates the facility, “took steps to ensure the safety and security of the facility during the power outage but failed to effectively manage other critical aspects of the situation,” including addressing medical issues and communicating about the suspension of visits.

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) reported in September 2025 that conditions within the jail have seen improvement, attributing the changes to increased staffing levels and other reform measures.

Violence also occasionally erupted in the jail. In 2024, two men were murdered by fellow inmates using makeshift weapons, according to the justice department.

In 2020, Maxwell’s lawyers argued that she was being held under “uniquely onerous conditions” at MDC Brooklyn, NBC reported.

Maxwell, who was held in the facility before her conviction in 2021, complained of raw sewage and vermin faeces in her cell.

“This is clearly a highly sensitive and secure operation,” remarked Lindsay.

What will Maduro’s life be like in Brooklyn?

Cameron Lindsay, a former MDC Brooklyn warden who has served as an expert witness, said the BOP will likely keep Maduro separated from other inmates and carefully vet the staff who interact with him.

“This is obviously a super sensitive, high-security operation,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay said Maduro would likely be locked down 23 hours a day, with meals delivered to his cell.

For the other hour, Maduro will be allotted exercise in a small caged area, and he might have access to a shower three times a week, according to Lindsay.

Cilia Flores, Maduro’s wife, would likely be subjected to the same conditions, Lindsay said.

— With additional reporting from Reuters.