Diddy sent to hospital after prison fight with Jamaican crime boss | Legal Analysis

We're getting a clearer picture about a big headline that we saw from earlier this week, and it's about that fight that sent Sean Diddy Combs to the hospital from prison. So the initial reports were that Diddy fell and may have hit his head. Well, now we're hearing from TMZ, citing sources inside Fort Dix, that Combs actually got into a fight with a guy named Christopher Dudas Coke, who is a Jamaican drug lord serving a 23 year sentence. So it sounds like this may be a little bit more than what we initially had heard. So we want to bring in a criminal defense attorney, Nick Ramchariter. He's here with us. Nick, when you heard this initial report that Diddy had fallen in and hit his head when he's supposed to be in solitary confinement, did that sort of set off some alarm bells for you what did you think when you heard that initial report yes well good morning dan and thanks for having us um and yeah it threw up a red flag it's uh it's almost an automatic thing in all of our industries we know where something's a little awry and in my business when you see someone's in solitary confinement all of a sudden they end up in the hospital well one of two things happened someone got hurt and how did they get hurt there's only two answers to that question, Dan. And the report indicates that Diddy, from a previous reporting from NBC, that Diddy may have been having these luxurious perks in prison where he's paying other inmates and there's massages and there's cell phones and there's iPads and things that you aren't necessarily supposed to have. And that prompted prison officials to then raid a lot of the different cells that are there and contraband was taken, including from this alleged drug kingpin whose name is Christopher Dudas Koch. When that happens, is that typical of something that may or may not happen in prison, that when you get an infraction that some other inmates may, I don't want to say suffer, but may have to face other consequences involved? What did you think of that? Yeah, I mean, it does depend sometimes. So, Dan, in jail, what most people don't get to see is that there is an economy, believe it or not. And with that economy comes a currency. That currency could be in the form of cell phones. It could be in the form of services, such as laundry or haircuts or extra food or ramen. I mean, as crazy as it sounds, those things have greater values in prison. And with Mr. Combs having a cell phone, Dan, believe it or not, it seems sensationalized in the news, but it's a very common thing that we see all the time. I'm not going to exactly say where they come from, but I'm sure we can all have our guesses to where they may be coming from to get inside of the jail. But a lot of inmates do have cell phones. Unfortunately, when it comes to Mr. Combs, and it was publicized, that's going to cause the Bureau of Prisons to do an investigation into everybody in those cells. And what's important to know, up in Fort Dix, where Mr. Combs is, Dan, it's not like you see on TV. It's not like you think you understand what a jail or prison is. These are communal cells. There's even no locks on these cells. These guys are open to roam free within their means. But if one of them gets in trouble for something in that housing unit, that entire housing unit is going to get in trouble. So Mr. Combs having this in the news does not help any of these inmates, especially with any potential contraband that they may have already had or is trading within that prison economy. And let's talk a little bit about the other person who may have been involved in this fight. TMZ is reporting his name is Christopher Dudas Koch, a Jamaican crime boss, former leader of the Shower Posse, an organization U.S. authorities linked to drug and drug and gun trafficking. I mean, it was a case that definitely was linked here in the city. A lot of connections of things that happened here in New York. He was arrested in Jamaica back in 2010, extradited to the U.S. in 2011, where apparently he pled guilty to racketeering, conspiracy, conspiracy to commit assault, dangerous, with a dangerous weapon, sentenced to 23 years in prison, now in Fort Dix, the same New Jersey facility where Diddy was incarcerated. I mean, my understanding when some of this happened was that Diddy wouldn't necessarily be in contact with inmates who may have a dangerous level, such as this person. Is that right? I mean, is this the facility where someone like Mr. Koch would end up? I mean, how do they end up in the same place? Well, that's a good question, Dan. A lot of these charges are based upon what you end up pleading to and how you get sentenced. So if you end up pleading to something violent, like a gun case, or God forbid, a murder, or something that grotesque, then yes, you're going to end up more in a maximum security prison. When you commit, and I'm not saying these are lesser crimes by any means, but nonviolent crimes, such as drug trafficking, you try to get into a lower minimum security prison, and that's exactly what happened here. So it is a common thing to have someone with similar charges, whether nonviolent, get placed in a minimum security prison, such as Fort Dix, where again, we have this communal cell. So I think it's a really good impression of the type of charges and the type of security that you should have. All right. And again, we're talking to criminal defense attorney Nick Ramcharter, talking about this latest revelation that we got in this case involving Sean Diddy Combs, of course, convicted here in the city related to those prostitution charges now serving time down in Fort Dix. The initial report that we got was that he fell and hit his head, and now TMZ is reporting that there was actually a fight, a fight that may have occurred because this other individual here, Christopher Dudas-Coke, was unhappy that his cell was raided because of some of the luxurious perks that Diddy was receiving. And just as we wrap up here, Nick, what would theoretically happen now? I mean, if there's a fight, is that sort of it? Or could there be other charges? Or I mean, not necessarily in this case, but in your experience, if something like that happens, you can get additional charges even if you're in prison, right? Yeah, absolutely. So you can get internal sanctions, violations. And if you do get those, that could extend your time, Dan. And that's what a lot of these guys don't want to do, right? They just want to do their time. they want to they want to make their bed they want to get up in the morning and eventually they want to go home so getting into these scuffles sometimes you can't really avoid them and with someone like Mr. Combs everyone wants to be his friend and if you're not his friend you're going to want to be his enemy so you know he forms his circles around him that hey these guys are going to come out at one day in one time and a lot of these guys end up forming relationships and being friends but at the end of the day while you're in there serving your time you want as many luxuries as possible. You also don't want that publicized. So being locked up with someone like Maduro or someone like Mr. Combs or even 6ix9ine, they're all in the same BOP and MDC, that causes problems for the other inmates that just want to stay and fly under the radar. So I hope that he's okay. It can have other circumstances and continuation to extending his incarceration period, but that will only be determined internally by the Bureau of Prisons. All right, Nick, thank you very much for your insight. Again, speaking with criminal defense attorney, trial attorney, Nick Ramcharter. Appreciate your expertise on this one. I know it's kind of a complicated situation going on a lot of reporting, but a lot of what we're learning there definitely applies. Thank you very much, Nick. We appreciate it.