Maduro studies religion in Brooklyn jail as wife Cilia Flores's health worsens

Religious study behind bars

People familiar with Nicolás Maduro's routine at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn told The New York Times that the former Venezuelan president spends much of his free time reading religious and philosophical works. According to those accounts, he reads the Bible and the Quran and has met prison chaplains, including a priest and a rabbi. Maduro, 63, has described himself as a descendant of a Sephardic Jewish community that moved from the Dutch Caribbean to Venezuela, yet people close to him said he showed no interest in Judaism before his capture by US forces. The unit he is held in also houses high-profile inmates, among them the rapper Sean Combs, the former crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried and Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing the chief executive of a large US health insurer. Maduro's legal team declined to comment for the report.

Trial and court rulings

Maduro and Flores face a trial scheduled for 14 June 2027 on charges of conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, trafficking cocaine into the United States, possession of destructive weapons and torture. A hearing in December is due to consider defence requests to have the charges dismissed on grounds of sovereign immunity. Earlier, the court rejected a release request filed by Flores's defence, which cited her health. The judge who made that decision, Alvin K. Hellerstein, died in October at the age of 92, and Analisa Torres has taken over the case. Flores is held in the women's wing of the same facility but is integrated into the general prison population.

Cilia Flores's health

Flores, 70, was captured during the US military operation in Caracas on 3 January while still recovering from a hysterectomy. Defence filings cited by the Times say she has lost about 11 kg and two teeth, and she has chest pain for which she was prescribed nitroglycerin. She sleeps only three to four hours a night, and her lawyers suspect she suffered a small heart attack in July. Her health has deteriorated since her arrest, according to the defence. For the first three months she was held in isolation, and later she was affected by pepper spray that guards used to end a fight between inmates. Her defence argues that detention conditions are worsening her health problems.

Weight loss and prison meals

Maduro has also lost considerable weight and has complained about the food served at the facility, according to people who know his daily routine. Before his detention he followed a paleolithic diet, and his prison meals may have sped up the weight loss. Reports describe him as visibly thinner since he arrived at the Brooklyn centre. Both Maduro and Flores have therefore lost weight during their time in custody, while the court case moves toward a trial next year.