Pharma Bro Held In 'Third World' Hell After Clinton Threat

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN – The Pharma Bro has talked himself into hell. Martin Shkreli is being held in Brooklyn's notoriously awful Metropolitan Detention Center after a judge called him a "danger to society" and revoked bail as Shkreli awaited sentencing for a securities fraud conviction. The Sunset Park lock-up that city records show he'll call home until January was described as "third world" by a group of judges who visited the women's wing last year.

Current lawsuits detail appalling conditions and even accuse guards of raping inmates. (For more on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.) Shkreli was sent to Metropolitan after a judge heard he'd offered an internet bounty of $5,000 for a lock of Hillary Clinton's hair, which the court ruled was tantamount to requesting an assault.

If he'd kept quiet, any prison sentence he received would likely have been in minimum-security prison camp – a much cushier environment than where he is now, the New York Post reported.

"He's in the worst prison that he'll ever be in, considering the charges he was convicted of," a source told the newspaper. "He really put himself in a bind."

Conditions at the jail are appalling, visitors told the Post. "He's going to be in total shock," Deirdre von Dornum, attorney-in-charge of the Federal Defenders of New York's Eastern District office, told the paper after visiting a client this week.

"It's freezing right now. The inmates are wearing hats and are wrapped in towels to keep themselves warm because (officials) keep the air conditioning up for some reason. In the winter, it often gets very hot."

The Bureau of Prisons is currently involved in a lawsuit filed by inmates who said they were subjected to "conscience-shocking, oppressive, egregious, capricious and dangerous conditions" at the jail, the Post reported.

Sources told the Post that Shkreli was being housed in the "Receiving and Departure Unit" where he would have been strip searched and given health checks. From there, he'd either be moved into the general population or into isolation for his own protection.

"There might be someone who would just want to hurt him," a defense lawyer visiting a client Thursday told the Post.

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