Sean “Diddy” Combs’ head injury reportedly followed a prison fight with Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the convicted Jamaican trafficker identified by TMZ in an Oct. 14 report.
The outlet cited multiple unnamed sources inside New Jersey’s FCI Fort Dix. PEOPLE separately reported that a source attributed the injury to a confrontation with a convicted drug lord, without identifying the other inmate.
Combs, 56, received hospital treatment early Saturday, Oct. 10, and returned to the prison that day. PEOPLE’s source described the injury as non-life-threatening.
His representative told Page Six that the team had “no way of independently verifying” the reported fight and was concerned about his health. The publication said the Bureau of Prisons had not responded to its request for comment.
TMZ’s Sources Blame Searches That Cost Inmates Their Phones
According to TMZ’s sources, inmates blamed Combs for searches conducted after an NBC News investigation drew attention to his alleged prison privileges. They claimed officials carried out at least two searches and confiscated prohibited cellphones, including one belonging to Coke.
The sources placed the confrontation on Friday, Oct. 9, during Combs’ daily break outside the Special Housing Unit, where he had already been confined. They said both men received two additional weeks in restrictive housing afterward. A different account appeared in Page Six the previous day. Its source said Combs had struck his head on the bunk above him.
NBC Obtained Footage It Said Showed Combs Using a Cellphone
The Sept. 29 NBC News investigation by Rich Schapiro and Chloe Melas drew on interviews with four men who had spent time in Combs’ housing unit. They described other prisoners preparing his meals, cleaning, doing laundry and providing massages in exchange for payments deposited into inmate accounts.
The network also obtained photographs and video that it said showed Combs using a contraband cellphone. Its sources alleged that he had access to alcohol and a modified tablet capable of playing entertainment beyond the device’s normal restrictions.
Spokesperson Juda Engelmayer challenged the portrayal, saying the media was turning ordinary details of prison life into news. He maintained that Combs was serving his sentence while awaiting a decision on his appeal.
Federal prosecutors had announced a separate Fort Dix contraband case before NBC’s report. On Sept. 16, the Justice Department charged five people, including a current corrections officer and a former officer, over an alleged smuggling operation.
Prosecutors said the operation ran from May 2025 through May 2026 and involved phones, marijuana, knives and other prohibited items. They alleged that bribes helped participants bypass security screening and that more than $100,000 moved among the conspirators through payment applications.
Coke Is Serving a 23-Year Sentence for Racketeering and an Assault Conspiracy
Coke led the Jamaica-based Shower Posse, also known as the Presidential Click, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors described an international drug and weapons operation directed from Tivoli Gardens, a neighborhood in Kingston.
Members distributed marijuana, cocaine and crack cocaine in Jamaica and the United States, sending proceeds to Coke and supplying him with firearms. Prosecutors said armed associates enforced his control through violence and intimidation. One episode involved an agreement to assault a Bronx drug trafficker over an unpaid debt.
Jamaican authorities arrested Coke in June 2010, and he was transferred to New York. He pleaded guilty in August 2011 to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering.
U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson imposed the prison term on June 8, 2012, along with four years of supervised release and a $1.5 million forfeiture order.
Combs’ Release Projection Had Changed Before the Reported Fight
By Oct. 7, Bureau of Prisons records listed Combs’ projected release as March 2, 2028, replacing Jan. 21, according to Us Weekly. That adjustment appeared two days before the confrontation described in the latest report.
In an Oct. 13 interview with TMZ, prison employees’ union official Jose Rojas said disciplinary records documented earlier fighting incidents and phone violations. He said Combs had lost 41 days of good-conduct credit and 400 days of commissary privileges.
Rojas described fighting write-ups dated July 31 and Sept. 30, another major violation on Oct. 1, and two minor phone violations in 2025.
Combs is serving a 50-month sentence imposed in October 2025 after his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. The jury acquitted him of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges. His lawyers have appealed the convictions and sentence.
Nationwide 90FM reported another change in federal records on Oct. 14 Coke’s projected release had moved from Jan. 29, 2028, to Jan. 28, 2029. The Jamaican broadcaster said it had checked the earlier date in July. The Bureau of Prisons explains that a future date in its inmate locator reflects its own sentence calculations.