Fox Hill, the Bahamas detention center where former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is being held, is known for its overcrowding, lack of toilets and generally harsh conditions.
Bankman-Fried spent the night in jail Wednesday after appearing in court in the Bahamas on Tuesday. At the hearing, Judge Bankman-Fried denied bail and remanded him to the Bahamas Correctional Service until February 8.
Despite his high profile, Bankman-Fried will not receive special treatment at the facility, Bahamas Corrections Chief Doan Cleare said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Commissioner Cleare said in the interview that arrangements were being made to house Bankman-Fried, at least initially, in the prison infirmary.
“He will be placed in the infirmary for orientation purposes and then we will decide on the best place to place him,” Cleare said, adding that the infirmary could accommodate about five inmates.
Overcrowding and “difficult” conditions
A 2021 US State Department report described conditions at Fox Hill as “difficult” with a problem of overcrowding. Additionally, issues such as rodent infestations and prisoners’ reliance on toilet buckets were cited as some of the facility’s most pressing problems.
However, according to Cleare, conditions at the facility have since improved.
“Most of the facilities have been renovated. One more is on hold and we no longer have rodent issues,” Cleare said in the interview.
However, according to a video taken by The Nassau Guardian newspaper in November, many inmates still live in cells that look old and overcrowded.
Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on December 13 after US prosecutors formally charged him. The Bahamian government said at the time that it would “promptly” process an extradition request from the US government.