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Revealing SBF's prison life: dirty living space, moldy food, and extreme temperatures in winter and summer.

Read this article in 9 Minutes

From the luxurious mansions in the Bahamas to the infamous MDC prison, the conditions here are crowded, without heating, and with dim lighting...

Original Title: "Overcrowded, No Heat, Little Light: Inside SBF's Prison Digs"

Original Author: Elizabeth Napolitano, CoinDesk

Original Translation: Foresight News

In early August 2023, SBF was imprisoned and detained at the MDC prison in Brooklyn, New York City. This is one of the worst prisons in New York City, with extremely poor conditions. The National Association of Women Judges called the conditions at MDC "unreasonable". Media reports indicate that at least 10 female prisoners and one male prisoner were sexually assaulted at the prison; guards were arrested for stealing from prisoners; some prisoners suffered strokes due to long-term malnutrition and died shortly after being released; during the 2019 North American cold wave, MDC lacked heating and power facilities due to an electrical fire, and prisoners had to endure temperatures below zero degrees Celsius...

SBF lives in MDC without the problem of "decoherence", and he is accompanied by Ghislaine Maxwell, who helped lure underage girls into sexual abuse, Chinese political prisoner and businessman Guo Wengui, former president of Honduras, and so on. Foresight News previously compiled "物是人已非，那些年 SBF 与 FTX 员工们住过的豪宅..." (Things have changed, those years when SBF and FTX employees lived in luxury homes...), and readers can compare the two articles to see the ups and downs of SBF's life.

MDC Exterior

SBF experienced a rollercoaster of a life, from a luxurious mansion in the Bahamas to bunk beds, from a lavish lifestyle to prison.

SBF is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, one of the most notorious correctional facilities in the United States. SBF has been in jail for six weeks since his bail was denied, and the conditions here are a far cry from his previous luxury home in the Caribbean. His lawyer stated that the internet speed is slow, the living area is dirty, and the food in the cafeteria is scarce.

"[He] relies on bread and water...sometimes on peanut butter to survive," the defense told the federal judge last month.

However, prisoners and their lawyers who have previously been in this prison believe that the conditions here are worse than what they have described, just like the "POWs" and Hannibal Lecter faced in the horror movie "The Silence of the Lambs".

But what does MDC look like on the inside? We conducted an investigation into this infamous detention center:

The Brooklyn Detention Center (MDC Brooklyn) is a large comprehensive prison consisting of two buildings, which houses more than 1,600 male and female inmates, many of whom are still awaiting trial. According to a report by the Prison Administration, as a mixed security facility, the inmates detained at MDC have various criminal records, including terrorism, organized crime, and drug trafficking. Current inmates include former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, the former denying drug trafficking charges and the latter denying fraud charges.

Other people who have served short sentences in prison include Ghislaine Maxwell, an accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein who committed sexual assault and sexual abuse against children, and Martin Shkreli, a pharmaceutical executive.

日常生活很规律

translates to

Daily life is very regular

SBF's schedule at MDC may be very tight.

The prison's inmate handbook shows that prisoners wake up at 6am and must make their beds, clean the floors, and dispose of garbage. Afterwards, inmates like SBF may work around the prison, such as preparing food in the kitchen, providing cleaning services for the entire prison, or assisting in the prison's maintenance workshop.

11 am for lunch and 4 pm for dinner. According to a petition on Change.org, the prison meals should include turkey, rice, vegetables, fruits, etc. However, the inmates are actually served with cold cuts, sandwich bread, moldy butter cake, and other "unidentifiable food from the kitchen".

SBF is a vegetarian. If he doesn't like the food in the cafeteria, he can use a $150 commissary allowance each week to buy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, each worth $3.65. According to the prison regulations, he can buy a maximum of two of these sandwiches per day.

共用宿舍、没有暖气、没有操场

Shared dormitories, no heating, no playground

除了吃饭和工作，囚犯可以休息。但是，MDC 监狱没有操场进行娱乐活动。因此，SBF 只能在室内活动室跟其他囚犯一起打牌、聊天、看电视。

Translation:

Apart from eating and working, prisoners can rest. However, there is no playground for recreational activities in MDC prison. Therefore, SBF can only play cards, chat, and watch TV with other prisoners in the indoor activity room.

According to a former prisoner, SBF can also take a shower in five separate shower rooms, but there are many people taking showers and the lines are often long. At the same time, SBF's living quarters may be a collective dormitory with bunk beds, but it is also possible to be in protective custody and live in their own cell.

Regardless, it may not be easy to get a good night's sleep in the MDC prison. In a recollection from a former MDC inmate, the lights in the dorms and other rooms in the prison were kept in a dim state 24 hours a day. In addition, former inmates have also reported hearing prisoners shouting throughout the night in their cells.

Cold interlacing is another issue that SBF may encounter at the Brooklyn MDC prison. According to several local news reports, many areas of the MDC do not have heating, and most places do not have air conditioning equipment.