Former first couple join list of well known inmates

After US military forces seized Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas in a pre-dawn raid, they were ultimately spirited to one of the most infamous jails in the US: the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York.

- Victoria Bekiempis

The deposed Venezuelan president and Flores will almost certainly reside in MDC until their federal trial on drugs and weapons charges inducting them into a group that counts Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ghislaine Maxwell, the crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried, and Mexican drug kingpin "El Chapo" as past or present members.

The facility, located in the Sunset Park neighbourhood of Brooklyn, holds prisoners with pending cases in the US district court for the eastern district of New York as well as those serving brief sentences.

The notable names mentioned above are among the many highprofile defendants who have called this correctional facility home in recent years. Luigi Mangione, who faces federal and state charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, is at present jailed there.

Other widely known inmates have included Trap Queen singer Fetty Wap, Rev AI Sharpton (who served a 90-day sentence in 2001), the disgraced R&B star R Kelly, "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli, and Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere and member Allison Mack.

Juan Orlando Hernández, an ex-president of Honduras found guilty of trafficking cocaine, was also held there. Donald Trump pardoned him in December.