Sean “Diddy” Combs may be able to shave up to 12 months off his more than four-year prison sentence.
Combs’ Manhattan sentencing judge has offered to recommend that the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul be considered for any available substance abuse program while incarcerated.
In a letter to Combs’ lawyers made public late Wednesday, US District Judge Arun Subramanian specified the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Drug Abuse Program.
The RDAP is an intensive, 500-hour, nine-month substance abuse treatment program for inmates. Completing it could entitle Combs to as much as a full year’s early release from behind bars, prison consultants have told Business Insider.
“A lot of people quit — they find it hard,” said Justin Paperny, a former inmate whose consultancy, White Collar Advice, advises clients before and after sentencing. “But it helps correct the way you think — flawed thinking, bad decisions — and helps you work to overcome addiction. Many love the program.”
Subramanian sentenced Combs last week to four years and two months in prison after the rapper was convicted of prostitution-related charges for transporting male escorts across state lines for drug-fueled “freak off” sex encounters with ex-girlfriends.
Combs has been locked up at a Brooklyn federal jail since his September 2024 indictment — and his time there will count toward his overall sentence.
In a letter to Subramanian earlier this week, Combs’ attorney, Teny Geragos, requested that the court “strongly recommend” to the Bureau of Prisons that Combs be moved to the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, a low-security facility in New Jersey.
The judge said in his Wednesday order that he will recommend a prison in the geographic location of Combs’ choosing, but not the specific facility. He will leave that determination to BOP, he said.
Subramanian said he will recommend to BOP that Combs “be incarcerated as close as possible to the New York metropolitan area” and that he be considered for entry into any substance abuse program “for which he qualifies.”
At Combs’ trial, his defense lawyers blamed the music tycoon’s violent side on his drug use.
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As part of his presentencing request for a sentence of time served, Combs, in a letter to Subramanian, championed his newfound sobriety.
“Although this situation has been the hardest and darkest time in my life, good things have come out of my incarceration,” Combs wrote in the letter. “For starters, I am now sober for the first time in 25 years. I have been trying my best to deal with my drug abuse and anger issues and take accountability as well as positive steps towards healing.”
Subramanian chided Combs for his “serious” crimes at his sentencing hearing, but told him: “You are going to get through this.”
“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” the judge said.
A judge’s recommendation for prison substance abuse programs is always helpful, but there are still other administrative hurdles to clear for gaining admission to programs like RDAP and winning that year off, Paperny said.
The BOP has the discretion to deny early release to any inmate whose conviction involves some element of violence and weapons possession, he said.
Paperny predicted that the BOP will weigh a number of factors, including the judge’s recommendation, but that the key factor will be any description of violence or weapons that may be in Combs’ probation report, which is not a public document.
“A lot of it comes down to the Bureau of Prisons’ discretion,” he said.
The BOP and attorneys for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
