Sean "Diddy" Combs Seeks Transfer to New Jersey Prison for Drug Treatment During 4-Year Sentence

Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs received a sentence of over four years in prison last Friday for federal charges.

Attorneys representing Sean "Diddy" Combs have submitted a request for the hip-hop entrepreneur to serve his four-year, two-month prison sentence at a low-security federal facility in New Jersey. In their petition to Judge Arun Subramanian on Monday, they emphasized that the prison's drug treatment program would support his rehabilitation efforts.

Combs' legal team, through attorney Teny Geragos, formally urged the judge to "strongly recommend" placement at FCI Fort Dix, a substantial correctional facility situated within the McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst joint military base grounds.

According to the letter, FCI Fort Dix, which offers a residential drug treatment program like several dozen other federal institutions, would provide Combs the optimal environment "to address drug abuse issues and to maximize family visitation and rehabilitative efforts."

In a separate development on Monday, President Donald Trump revealed to reporters that Combs had requested a pardon. Trump, who referred to the musician as "Puff Daddy," did not indicate whether he would grant such clemency. Requests for comment regarding Trump's statement went unanswered by Combs' legal representatives and publicity team.

Combs' sentencing last Friday on charges related to transporting individuals across state lines for sexual encounters concluded a federal case that featured disturbing testimony about violence, drugs, and so-called "freak-offs," exposing the private life of one of music's most influential figures.

The "I'll Be Missing You" artist was found guilty in July under the federal Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transportation for sexual crimes. His trial resulted in a mixed verdict, with acquittals on sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have resulted in a life sentence.

Combs has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn, since his September 2024 arrest. This time served will count toward his sentence, potentially allowing for release in approximately three years.

Judge Subramanian has not yet ruled on the request for placement at FCI Fort Dix.

While judges frequently make recommendations regarding where inmates should serve their sentences, the Bureau of Prisons maintains final authority on these decisions. The agency bases such determinations on various factors, including offense severity, required security level, and an inmate's programming needs.

FCI Fort Dix, located approximately 64 miles (103 kilometers) southwest of New York City, is the largest single federal prison by population with nearly 3,900 inmates. Combs was born and established his fame in New York City as a rapper and entrepreneur with ventures spanning fashion, television, and liquor industries. An adjacent minimum-security prison camp houses 210 inmates.

The facility has previously housed numerous high-profile inmates, including mobsters, corrupt politicians, and "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli. For a period, it operated under the warden who had overseen the Manhattan federal jail where financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in 2019. That warden, Lamine N'Diaye, has since retired.

In 2021, a 27-year-old Fort Dix inmate suffered an eye stabbing by another prisoner.

A 2019 incident involved the arrest of a Fort Dix inmate, a former inmate, and two others for using a drone to smuggle contraband including cellphones, tobacco, weight-loss supplements, and eyeglasses. That same year, a Fort Dix correctional officer pleaded guilty in a separate case to accepting bribes for smuggling contraband.

During his incarceration at Fort Dix, Shkreli was placed in solitary confinement amid allegations he was operating his drug company from prison using a contraband smartphone. Federal regulations prohibit inmates from conducting business and possessing cellphones.