Diddy wasn’t about to let his first Thanksgiving behind bars pass without purpose. Locked up at Fort Dix since October 30, the Hip-Hop mogul rallied a group of inmates known as the Bankroll Bosses to pull off a massive holiday meal that fed every housing unit in the prison—roughly 1,000 people.
The effort took two full days of planning and prep, with inmates using whatever tools they could find—ID cards doubled as knives—to transform commissary ingredients into a meal that felt more like a family gathering than a standard prison tray.
“Thanksgiving, to me, is about making sure other people eat. Everybody misses their family. People get depressed during the holidays. We just wanted to come together as a family and do our own thing,” Diddy told TMZ through his rep.
Prison holidays are usually bare minimum. Meals are served quickly, with little effort to create any sense of warmth or community. But Diddy and his crew weren’t interested in routine. They decided to take matters into their own hands.
B.I., a former gang leader who helped organize the operation, explained the scale of the project: “We cooked the food and sent it to all the buildings. Enough for about 200 people in each building. It took two days to prep everything.”
Without access to stoves or microwaves, the group had to improvise. They bought supplies from the commissary and used basic tools to prepare and distribute the food. Somehow, they made it work.
Diddy’s adjustment to prison life has surprised many. Videos have surfaced showing him working various jobs inside the facility, and he’s spoken about the unexpected sense of unity among inmates.
“There’s a lot of misinterpretations about prison. There is a strong brotherhood. We all look out for each other. It’s nothing but a positive thing,” he said. “It’s like a little bit of home in a dark place.”
The Thanksgiving initiative is part of a broader effort by Diddy to maintain a sense of leadership and connection while serving his 50-month sentence for Mann Act violations.
He was convicted on two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution and moved to Fort Dix after initially being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Speculation about his release has been swirling, especially after his son King Combs hinted he might be home for the holidays. But that scenario appears unlikely. While Diddy has been granted an expedited appeal schedule, legal analysts don’t expect a swift outcome.
For now, he remains focused on staying active and engaged behind bars. Whether running Bad Boy Records or organizing a prison-wide Thanksgiving, Diddy continues to find ways to lead—even from a cell.