Copyright dailymail
The former cellmate of Sean 'Diddy' Combs has revealed how he stepped in when the disgraced rapper was attacked by an inmate armed with a knife. Raymond Castillo told the Daily Mail that Combs, 55, was watching the VH1 reality series Basketball Wives in a prison dorm at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Center when he was approached from behind. Castillo said another inmate demanded his chair. 'He was persistent. He wanted the chair that Diddy was sitting in. 'Diddy told the guy, 'Yo, homeboy, why are you bothering me when I am watching TV and this chair doesn't belong to anybody. Why are you worried about this specific chair?' 'I don't know if he was bullying Diddy or looking for clout, but Diddy didn't go for that.' When the inmate stepped away, he returned with a handmade shiv. Castillo said that he intervened as soon as the man took out the knife. 'I jumped in between them and grabbed the guy's hand,' Castillo told the Daily Mail. 'I didn't know if he was having a bad day or a bad moment, or if he had a bad phone call.' Previous reports said Diddy woke up with a knife to his throat in bed, but Castillo insisted that's not what happened. 'All these stories out there, people saying a knife to his neck and extortion or whatever. These are all false rumors.' Castillo added that he was floored at how Diddy responded, despite his life being in danger. 'I've never seen him handle a situation like this. He spoke to the guy differently, so it didn't even escalate or go anywhere,' Castillo recalled. 'He just stared this man down. Looked him straight in the eyes and spoke positively to him. Mind you, this is Sean 'Diddy' Combs. He could have easily yelled for the police, and he didn't do any of that. 'Diddy told the guy, 'I don't know if you're going through something, homeboy, but you might need to pray or something.'' The altercation was caught on camera, and within minutes, police were on the scene. According to Castillo, Diddy protected his attacker rather than turn him in. 'He told police that nothing was going on, and that maybe the guy may have been having a rough day,' he said. Following the incident, the inmate was transferred to another unit within the prison. Diddy's fall from grace came in September 2024, after he was indicted on a slew of federal charges, ranging from racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation for purposes of prostitution. For the last 14 months, he was at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a maximum-security prison. On Friday, he was transferred to a low-security male prison, FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey, where he will serve out the remainder of his 50-month sentence. His earliest release date is scheduled for May 8, 2028, unless any changes are made. In May, Diddy went on trial and a jury found him not guilty on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges, but he was found guilty on the two counts of transportation for prostitution. During his time behind bars, Diddy started a six-week educational program called Free Game with Diddy. The course is designed to give participants essential skills in business management, entrepreneurship and personal development. The program has been endorsed by the US Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons, but it is unclear if the program will continue at MDC after Diddy's relocation. Castillo was one of the 30 inmates who shared a prison dorm with Diddy. He told the Daily Mail that a typical day for the rapper behind bars involved a two-hour workout, calls with his legal team, and a lot of reading. One of the books, Castillo recalled, was Rich Man, Poor Man. Castillo claims he connected with Diddy when he thought the former Bad Boy Records CEO might need a friend. 'Diddy was going through a lot, and he was going through depression and fighting these battles. I would always come up to him and talk positively to him and let him know that this too shall pass and not to forget who he was and who he is.' Castillo said that he would frequently see Diddy walk around the unit talking to himself, and at one point thought he might be going crazy. Instead, he claimed Diddy told him that 'he was having long conversations with God.' 'He told me that God was empowering him and giving him superhuman strength and helping him find his purpose. He said that everything in life has a purpose and a meaning, and he was there for a reason.' When Diddy conceived the Free Game with Diddy program, Castillo said he became his teaching assistant. 'I feel like Diddy, over time, saw that people in jail are hopeless and lost, and there's a lot of broken souls. He wanted to empower youth, empower the minority, give a voice to the voiceless, and give people hope. 'People in prison feel forgotten. I think he could have related. He went through these things, and he is currently going through them.' Castillo said he never talked to Diddy about regrets or the punishment he received for the high-profile crime. 'The only thing Diddy confessed to was that a lot of his wrongdoings and mistakes in life came from him being under the influence of drugs. He would always tell us to stay away from drugs. 'He would always tell us that when you are under the influence, your mind and decisions are cloudy. You think you [made] the right decision in the moment, but when you sit back and analyze it, you [did] not.' When asked how he felt about the media's portrayal of Diddy, and whether some of the allegations were true, he said, 'Diddy never got into all the media talks... never discussed it.' Castillo was released from prison on October 23 after serving his 46-month sentence for drug trafficking and burglary. Only four years old when his father went to federal prison to serve a 21-year sentence, Castillo said he was living a life of crime by the age of 14. He told the Daily Mail that he was 'addicted to the fast life and easy money,' and said he spent much of his youth in and out of prison. In our interview, Castillo expressed his gratitude for what Diddy taught him. 'Diddy did something that no one else has done - using his platform to empower us,' he said, adding that the rapper did it with 'limited resources, with the world against [him] and all this weight on [his] shoulders. 'We got to know the real Sean Combs, not just Diddy the icon, the legend, the mogul. No, we got to know him as a human being, a father, a son, a friend, a God fearing man. 'You have to remember, in jail, there is no clout, no cameras, no entourage - so there is nobody to fake the funk for. It is just you being your normal self. That is what we all saw. We got to see who he really was.' A representative for Diddy told the Daily Mail that he taught the Free Game With Diddy program twice while at MDC, and hopes to continue teaching at the new prison. The Daily Mail reviewed his course syllabus and the report card filled out by a manager from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in September. The report card shows Diddy received 5s (the highest rating) across the board on his work performance evaluation. Under the 'supervision and instruction' category, he was rated as 'Outstanding. Makes a real effort to please the instructor. Does exactly as is told.' For his 'ability to work with others,' he was given an 'Outstanding. Gets along well with everyone. Very popular.' In the comments section, the unit manager at the US Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons wrote, 'Excellent class. Keep up the great work!!!' The Federal Bureau of Prisons has not replied to the Daily Mail's request for comment.
