Rodents and Lack of Toilets Reported at Bahamas Detention Center Where Sam Bankman-Fried Is Being Held

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October 23, 2023 08:08 EDT

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Fox Hill, the Bahamas detention facility where former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is held, is known for overcrowding, a lack of toilets, and generally harsh conditions.

Bankman-Fried spent the night at the prison on Wednesday, after appearing in court in the Bahamas on Tuesday. During the court appearance, Bankman-Fried was denied bail by the judge, and instead remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until February 8.

Despite his high profile, Bankman-Fried will not receive any kind of special treatment at the facility, the Bahamas’ Commissioner of Correctional Services, Doan Cleare, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Commissioner Cleare further said in the interview that preparations were being made to house Bankman-Fried in the prison’s sick bay, at least initially.

“He will be in sick bay for orientation purposes and then we will determine where best to place him,” Cleare said, adding that the sick bay can hold about five inmates.

EWN Bahamas reports that Sam is currently being held in the Fox Prison sick bay with five other inmates.

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— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) December 14, 2022

Overcrowding and “harsh” conditions

In a US State Department report from 2021, conditions at Fox Hill were described as “harsh,” with overcrowding being a problem. In addition, problems such as rodent infestation and prisoners relying on buckets as toilets were cited as some of the most pressing issues at the facility.

According to Cleare, however, conditions at the facility have improved since then.

“The facilities, most of them have been renovated. We have one more to go and we don’t have any issues with rodents,” Cleare said in the interview.

Judging from a video recorded by The Nassau Guardian newspaper in November, however, many inmates are still living in cells that appear old and overcrowded.

Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on December 13 after US prosecutors formally filed criminal charges against him. The government of the Bahamas noted at the time that if the US government make a request for extradition, they would process it “promptly.”