The man accused of killing healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is reportedly allowed an MP3 player to purchase songs if people put money into his prison account.
Luigi Mangione is currently being held in a notorious federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York, as he stands accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Thompson outside a New York hotel on December 4.
Mangione was apprehended in Pennsylvania after a McDonald’s employee spotted him in the restaurant days after Thompson was shot and killed, and was extradited back to NYC.
The 26-year-old has been charged with Thompson’s murder and pleaded not guilty before the court in New York on December 23.
He faces multiple charges from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, including first- and second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and possessing a forged driver’s license, and murder as an act of terrorism.
Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has said they plan to ‘fight these changes whether it’s in state or federal to the fullest extent’.
In the meantime, Mangione is locked up in a special housing unit in ‘administrative segregation’ at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Brooklyn, as according to TMZ, his high profile means he could be a target for other inmates and has to be separated from the general prison population for his own safety.
Speaking to PageSix, prison consultant Sam Mangel said Mangione’s private living quarters amounts to a ‘small solitary-confinement cell’ – and another prison expert told the US Sun that Mangione will likely face strict regulations including an ‘anti-psychotic diet’.
The Ivy League graduate also joins Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in the prison as the disgraced rapper was sent to confinement earlier this year for charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Though Diddy is able to mix in with the general population inside the jail.
Sources also told TMZ that Mangione is in a single cell on his own, but the cells are so close together that inmates can frequently talk to each other.
However, free roaming and entertainment is bleak inside the confined part of the prison.
Mangione is able to stretch his legs for a maximum of one hour a day outside his cell in the outdoor rec pen.
The large cage allows inmates to roam around uncuffed to enjoy some of the equipment of the day, such as a basketball or a stationary bicycle.
As for entertainment, TMZ claims there are no televisions in the segregation unit, so during the day there probably isn’t an awful lot for Mangione to do.
However, he can allegedly purchase an MP3 player with songs through the prison’s commissary, if someone can put money into his account.
Inmates are restricted to spend $350 per month at the jail ‘shop’, though are given a $100 boost through the holidays.
The Maryland-native will appear in court again on February 21.
