Inside P Diddy's Fort Dix Reality: What the Prison Photo Reveals

Yep, that really was Diddy wandering the yard at Fort Dix in an orange beanie and a navy puffer. TMZ snapped the first clear look at him since his 2024 arrest, and the man looks like time showed up with a paintbrush and said: full white beard, it is. If you did a double take, same.

The photo, the place, the look

TMZ grabbed the shot while Sean 'Diddy' Combs was out for rec time at Fort Dix Federal Prison in New Jersey. He was bundled up in a navy blue puffy jacket with an orange beanie, sporting a thick white beard that makes him almost unrecognizable. This is the first real public glimpse of him since his September 2024 arrest. The image made the rounds online, including a post from @FearedBuck on November 1, 2025.

Why Fort Dix, and how much time is left

Before Fort Dix, Diddy was being held at MDC Brooklyn, which is... not famous for creature comforts. According to CNN, he asked to transfer to Fort Dix to join the prison's drug treatment program and to be closer to family. He was sentenced to 50 months, and he has 13 months already in the bank. With time served and standard credits factored in, he is looking at roughly two and a half more years. The Bureau of Prisons currently pegs his release date at May 8, 2028.

There is a potential fast track: Fort Dix offers the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). Complete the full 12 months and you can shave up to a year off. If everything breaks his way, legal sources say he could be out as early as February 2027. Emphasis on could — that depends on eligibility, completion, and credits.

Day-to-day reality check

No special treatment. Whatever he was on the outside, inside he is inmate Combs with a job assignment like everyone else. For now, that job is the laundry room — washing and drying the facility's dirty clothes. It is a sharp contrast from trial testimony where federal prosecutors described him having a small army of assistants for even the most basic errands like charging his phone or grabbing a bottle of water. That life is on pause.

• His job: prison laundry duty, washing and drying clothes.
• Money: inmates get a commissary account for earnings and outside deposits.
• What he can buy: snacks and basics including Diet Pepsi ($6.60), popcorn ($1.45), Pop-Tarts ($2.85), plus cereals, nuts, candy, meals, medical items, cleaning products, and more — prices can change without notice.
• Programs: Fort Dix's RDAP runs 6 to 12 months and is tough but sought after.
• Movement: at the satellite camp, inmates can move around the grounds between buildings and even through the parking lot — not your stereotypical razor-wire vibe.
• Visits: family time happens in a large communal room and, for some inmates, can be frequent.
• Violence still exists: even at Fort Dix, there have been inmate-on-inmate incidents, including stabbings, according to former prisoners.

What people who have been there say

Attorney James J. Leonard Jr., who has represented inmates at Fort Dix, described the place like this:

'Some people would say it is a pretty easy place to do time.'

He also called RDAP a 'very, very intensive therapeutic program' that runs 6 to 12 months and is highly sought-after by eligible inmates. When Leonard visited the satellite camp, he was struck by how freely people moved around the complex — out in the parking lot, going building to building — because it is a camp setting rather than a heavily fenced yard.

Joe Giudice, who did 41 months at Fort Dix, told Fox News Digital that visits happen in one big room and he had family and friends show up basically every weekend. He also made it clear the place is not a fantasy camp: he witnessed inmate-on-inmate violence, including a group stabbing, even if that was not the daily norm.

The bottom line

Diddy is settled at Fort Dix, beanie on, beard out, doing laundry like everyone else while eyeing RDAP and the possibility of cutting his sentence. Officially, May 8, 2028 is the target. If the program and credits line up, early 2027 is not impossible. For now, this is the version of Combs we are getting: low profile, structured days, a commissary menu, and a long walk between buildings instead of red carpets.