LUIGI Mangione’s start to 2025 is grim in a small cell in a notorious rat-infested jail, where he’s allegedly forced to pick between taking a shower and working out.
The accused killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson remains locked up in New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
He is currently being held in solitary confinement within the Special Housing Unit, known as the SHU, and is not yet allowed to mix with other prisoners, including P Diddy, who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Mangione is facing two separate indictments related to the December 4 shooting in Midtown Manhattan and could still spend months in the Brooklyn jail.
It is plagued with inmate death and violence, rodents, raw sewage, understaffing, and a deteriorating infrastructure.
Sam Mangel, a prison consultant who has clients at the Metropolitan Detention Center, spoke exclusively to The U.S. Sun about Mangione’s jail conditions.
He said, “You’re in a six-by-nine cell with two beds or a bunk bed, a one-piece toilet and sink, a small desk, and maybe a little foot locker.
“There may or may not be a window and you are locked in there 23 out of 24 hours.
“Your meals are given to you through a slot in the door.
“If you’re on a psychiatric evaluation, you’re monitored every 15 to 30 minutes to make sure that you haven’t harmed yourself.
The only time you’re not shackled is when you’re physically locked in the shower.”
Prison consultant Sam Mangel
“Depending upon the severity of the evaluation, and I don’t know that he’s currently on this, he would be placed in a suicide smock, which is what you saw him in when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.
“For the one hour a day you’re allowed out, and usually it’s one hour a day three days a week, because they are terribly short-staffed … you have a choice, you can take a shower, you can make a phone call, or you can walk in, usually it’s a 10 by 10 or 15 by 15, roped off fenced off area by yourself.
“Maybe they give you a basketball to bounce, but that’s it.
“So you literally have a choice. Do you want to take a shower? But you are shackled the whole time.
“The only time you’re not shackled is when you’re physically locked in the shower. And then when you come out, you turn around and they re-shackle you.”
Mangel said Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty, will probably be struggling mentally as the reality of his situation will now be sinking in after weeks behind bars.
He said, “You never get used to it. You are in there with other psychiatric people, people coming down from horrible drug withdrawals, they’re banging on the doors at all hours of the night.”
Mangel said inmates often wrap their jumpsuits around their heads to sleep because they don’t get a pillow.
He went on, “It is terribly loud. People are trying to communicate with other inmates at all hours.
“Because there’s no clock, you don’t know necessarily, other than when you’re being fed, what time of day it is.
BRIAN Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot to death in Manhattan in an execution-like killing.
Here is everything we know about Thompson’s murder so far.
Monday, December 2 – Thompson travels from his home in Minnesota to New York City for an investor conference in Midtown Manhattan.
Wednesday, December 4, 6:45 am – Thompson walks from his hotel across the street to the New York Hilton Midtown and is murdered by a masked shooter. The execution was caught on surveillance, and the suspect was seen biking away toward Central Park. Cops spark a citywide search for the assassin.
11:30 am – Cops released disturbing images of the execution, offered a reward for information, and made a desperate plea for New Yorkers to keep their eyes out.
12:00 pm – Thompson’s estranged wife Paulette revealed her husband had been threatened before he was shot.
2:45 pm – Cops released more eerie images of the suspect ordering at Starbucks that partially revealed his face. The U.S. Sun confirmed the coffee shop was just two blocks away from the shooting, but it’s unclear when he stopped by.
December 5, 6 am – Reports claim the words “deny,” “dispose,” and “defend” were engraved on live rounds and shell casings left behind by the assassin. These words echo the book Delay, Deny, Defend, which is about the failings of the healthcare industry. The author of the book had no comment on the reports.
8 am– Cops raid a hostel in the Upper West Side of New York City where the suspect is said to have stayed. It’s believed he wore a mask for most of the time he was there.
11 am – A person of interest in Thompson’s murder is pictured. He’s wearing a hood in the photo, but his full face could be seen breaking into a beaming grin. Still, no arrests have been made in the investigation.
Afternoon – Law enforcement confirms the suspect arrived in New York City on a Greyhound bus on November 24. It’s also confirmed that the suspect dropped a burner cell phone near the scene of the shooting.
December 6, 3 pm – Police announce they believe the killer has left New York City via interstate bus. They release more surveillance footage that shows him taking a taxi to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station.
December 9 – Luigi Mangione, 26, is arrested as a “strong person of interest” at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was carrying a three-page manifesto, fake IDs, and a gun similar to the one used in Thompson’s murder.
“Maybe you get a bible to read, or some reading material, but that’s it. You don’t have access to any other external stimuli.”
Reports suggested Mangione may now be able to pay for an MP3 player, but Mangel insists he would not be able to use it.
“An MP3 player costs $100, but he wouldn’t have access to actually using it, other than maybe the radio feature, because it requires being charged every eight hours,” he said.
“He would not have access to an MP3 charger while in that specific unit. So that’s not going to happen. Each time he tries to download a song, it’s $1 per download.
“He would have to get to a computer that has access to Apple Music to download the songs.”
Mangione’s next court date in state court is scheduled for February 21.
Before then, he is expected to appear in federal court on January 18.
“While he’s in protective custody, he will be withdrawn, in my opinion,” Mangel continued.
“Reality sinks in very quickly when you’re in that environment.
“Now, once he gets transferred up to, we’ll call it general population, he’ll be around other inmates that are very intelligent, very well spoken. The interaction with that level of intelligence will be very important to him once he’s there.”
Mangione was an Ivy League tech graduate from a prominent Maryland family before he reportedly went missing and cut contact with family and friends.
He had allegedly been suffering chronic back pain and was frustrated with the American health insurance industry.
Mangel believes Mangione will be moved this week to be able to mix with other prisoners but they are often faced with a backlog due to staffing issues.
But the living conditions when he moves onto a new floor won’t get any better.
Mangel said, “I have clients there, they have a rodent infestation.
“At night, guys put towels down underneath the door, because it’s about a one-inch space … so that the mice don’t come in underneath the doors.
“Just because he’s going to be on a floor that is separate from everybody else, they get the same mice, the same roaches, the same food, the same clothes, the same HVAC system, the same mattresses, same everything.
“The only difference is for their own safety and those of others, they’re segregated.”
Asked if he had any advice for Mangione, he said, “Keep your head down. You are just a number where you are.
“Listen to what some of the other inmates are telling you.
“Don’t try to be a big fish in a small pond, because all you’ll do is draw attention to yourself. And that’s the last thing you want to do today, tomorrow, and depending upon what happens in the future.
“I tell clients, be like a wallflower, listen, pay attention to your environment. Don’t stand out.”
