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When Tekashi 6ix9ine, the rapper and former gang member, finished serving his three-month sentence at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, he left carrying a special souvenir. He showed two friends waiting outside the prison to pick it up: it was a homemade SpongeBob SquarePants figurine with a series of jagged lines, not unlike a heart rate monitor, or a mountain range, written on it. It was, 6ix9ine explained, the autograph of Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela. The signature was also dated, in Spanish, “2.º April.”
“Look, one by one ,” 6ix9ine said, holding up SpongeBob, which, he later explained, another inmate had painstakingly crafted, folding six hundred pieces of paper and sewing them together, over the course of two weeks. “Maduro signed it,” he said proudly, before adding, “Venezuela forever.”
On January 3, Maduro was abducted from Venezuela during a U.S. raid on a military compound in Caracas, dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve. That same day, he was transported to a DEA office in Manhattan for arrest, before being taken to MDC Brooklyn, New York City's only functioning federal detention facility. He has been held there for the past four and a half months.
6ix9ine, who was in MDC Brooklyn after violating the terms of his supervised release in connection with a 2018 case, claims to have been roommates with Maduro for part of his sentence, an experience he described in great detail to Adin Ross. “I didn’t want to bother him, I didn’t want to look like a little girl who was distracted,” 6ix9ine told Ross. “Because as soon as he walked in, I was like, ‘Whatever you need.’”
At one point, early in his incarceration, Maduro appears to have been held in a unit designed for solitary confinement, as is often the case with prisoners of his status. “He smelled bad when he first came out of the box,” 6ix9ine explained. “But then he managed to find time to take a shower and things like that.”
Maduro was then likely transferred to a unit known as 4 North, which is usually where high-profile prisoners such as rapper Sean (Diddy) Combs and 6ix9ine himself are held. (“I took Diddy’s bed,” 6ix9ine said.)
There are two main buildings at MDC Brooklyn: a larger building for male detainees and a smaller one for women. 4 North is located on the fourth floor of the second building. In this unit, the beds are placed next to each other and there are no pillows.
"Maduro was sleeping in front of me," 6ix9ine said, indicating a distance of about 60 cm.
The schedule in this unit includes frequent prisoner counts and meals delivered by trolley. There is a small room for communication with lawyers. The windows are narrow and the hard materials limit the view. The toilets and showers offer very little privacy.
The MDC Brooklyn facility is located in Sunset Park and houses over 1,300 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial. It has often been the subject of criticism for conditions, including power outages and sanitation problems. However, it is known for hosting famous inmates.
Experts point out that units like 4 North are more secure and are used to protect high-profile prisoners from potential dangers.
Since arriving in prison, Maduro has appeared in court only twice. He is represented by attorney Barry J. Pollack.
Meanwhile, the political situation in Venezuela remains unclear. Delcy Rodríguez has taken over the country's interim leadership, while the opposition and future political developments remain uncertain.
According to 6ix9ine's testimony, Maduro spends most of his time reading religious books and other materials.
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