Nicolás Maduro Is Being Held at a Troubled Brooklyn Jail

The Metropolitan Detention Center, known as the M.D.C., is one of the United States’ most notorious federal lockups.The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Nicolás Maduro is being held. Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York TimesJan. 4, 2026, 8:39 a.m. ETNicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president captured by the United States on Saturday, is being held in a notorious Brooklyn jail complex that has been plagued by scandal and accusations of mismanagement.The Metropolitan Detention Center is a hulking facility in Downtown Brooklyn that, for decades, has held some of the United States’ most infamous accused criminals as they await trial.Known as the M.D.C., the jail is one of the largest federal lockups in the country, housing around 1,600 inmates at any given time. While some face serious charges like international drug trafficking or terrorism, the vast majority face lesser crimes. The jail center is a sort of way station for the detainees as they await trial or sentencing.It is also deeply troubled. In recent years, it has been the scene of stabbings and killings. It became New York City’s only federal jail center in 2021, when the Justice Department shut down the Metropolitan Correction Center in Manhattan, at least temporarily, because of deteriorating conditions.In 2019, the complex was plunged into a weeklong blackout when the jail’s heating and electricity shut down during a polar vortex, when temperatures in the city dipped into single digits. A Justice Department report found officials had gravely mishandled the crisis.Mr. Maduro, who was taken to the jail on Saturday, will join the ranks of high-profile detainees who have passed through the M.D.C. Others include Ghislaine Maxwell, the partner of the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein; Sean “Diddy” Combs; and the singer R. Kelly, convicted of sex trafficking.Mr. Maduro faces federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, are expected to make their first court appearance soon in Manhattan.Ali Watkins covers international news for The Times and is based in Belfast.SKIP