The renowned rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine expressed excitement about being incarcerated alongside the ousted Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro. Known by his real name Daniel Hernandez, the 29-year-old artist voluntarily checked into the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York, earlier this week. Hernandez’s admission to the MDC follows his confession of involvement in a violent incident and drug possession related to a gang affair last year.
In a previous ruling, Hernandez was sentenced to three months in federal confinement after breaching the terms of his supervised release, which led to a 45-day sentence in 2024. Taking to Instagram, Hernandez shared his plans to engage in basketball games with fellow inmates at the MDC, highlighting his eagerness to assemble a formidable prison basketball team. He also recounted sharing a cell with Sean “Diddy” Combs and the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in the past.
This marks the second instance within a year that Hernandez has been ordered to serve time for violating his probation terms. His incarceration coincides with the recent U.S. operation to apprehend Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Notably, the MDC has housed notable figures such as Sam Bankman-Fried, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the infamous drug lord “El Chapo.”
Situated in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, the MDC primarily detains individuals with pending cases in the U.S. district court for New York’s eastern district. It also accommodates short-term inmates, as reported by the Guardian. A recent report from the Federal Bureau of Prisons indicated improvements in the facility’s conditions, citing reduced violence, stricter inmate schedules, and enhanced security against contraband.
Despite these enhancements, the MDC has previously been characterized as a “hell on earth,” witnessing fatalities and injuries among inmates in 2024. Reports suggest overcrowding issues, with the facility regularly accommodating well above its intended capacity of 1,000 prisoners, leading to substandard living conditions.