Sam Bankman-Fried, the former FTX CEO who was arrested in the country on Monday on US fraud charges, will be going to a harsh prison in the country.
Bankman- Fried was taken into custody this week by authorities in the Bahamas. A federal criminal indictment on Tuesday charged Bankman-Fried with multiple counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance violations, related to the collapse of one of the largestcryptocurrencies exchanges.
The only prison in the country of the Bahamas, the Fox Hill, is notoriously overcrowded and unsanitary.
According to a 2020 US State Department human rights report, the rate of imprisonment in the Bahamas is among the highest in the world. Fox Hill is overpopulated due to the fact that there is a lot of prisoners from the Bahamas.
Inmates are supposed to get an hour outside each day, but understaffing and overcrowding means there are periods where prisoners may only see the sun for 30 minutes a week.
—The Chainsaw (@chainsawdotcom) December 13, 2022
Fox Hill has a female block with different levels of security. Some inmates who are awaiting a trial are being housed in the maximum security facility because of space constraints and overcrowding, according to Farquharson.
The US State Department has a human rights report on the Bahamas. The inmates at the facility said they were prone to bed sores because they had to lie on the ground for long periods of time.
The maximum security block has just six by ten feet of individual cells, which are home to rats, flies, and insects. The small cells which have no mattresses or toilet facilities can be shared by as many as six inmates at a time.
According to the government report, inmates were subjected to poor nutrition because they didn't have access to vitamins and minerals. Patients at Fox Hill said they have been denied prompt medical care and access to psychological care.
Fox Hill's conditions were found to be prone to high rates of infectious diseases in a 2003 report.
After the judge declared Bankman-Fried a flight risk, he hugged his parents and lowered his head. A local official told the outlet that the judge ordered him to be held in the medical department at the prison.
Bankman-Fried quit his job at FTX after the exchange filed for Chapter 11. He is accused of duping investors and defrauding customers while at the helm.