NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been behind bars since Aug. 11, when a U.S. judge jailed him for likely tampering with witnesses.

Following his conviction for fraud on Thursday, the 31-year-old former billionaire is likely to remain at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center until after his sentencing, which has been scheduled for March 28, 2024.

Here is what we know about the jail:

THE JAIL'S REPUTATION

In recent years, MDC has been plagued by persistent staffing shortages, power outages, and maggots in inmates' food. Earlier this year, a guard pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to smuggle in drugs. Public defenders have called conditions "inhumane." In 2019, an electrical fire cut off lighting and heat for days.

Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers compared the "reprehensible and utterly inappropriate" conditions at MDC to Hannibal Lecter's incarceration in the 1991 movie "The Silence of the Lambs." She complained of raw sewage seeping into her cell and "hyper-surveillance" by guards.

In jailing Bankman-Fried, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan acknowledged that MDC "is not on anybody's list of five star facilities."

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which runs MDC, did not previously respond to a request for comment. It said in a September statement that all MDC inmates "have access to healthcare, telephones, a law library for legal research, hot meals, and they reside in certified environmental conditions."

'SUBSISTING ON BREAD AND WATER'

On Aug. 22, Bankman-Fried's lawyer Mark Cohen said the defendant was "subsisting on bread and water" because MDC had not provided him with a vegan diet as he requested. Cohen also said the jail had not given Bankman-Fried a daily Emsam patch to treat depression or Adderall to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, despite an Aug. 14 order from Kaplan to do so.

Prosecutors said in a Sept. 15 filing that Bankman-Fried was taking ADHD medication.

On Oct. 16, about two weeks into the trial, Bankman-Fried's defense lawyers said the dose he was being administered in the mornings before leaving for court was wearing off by the time his trial day started.

Later that week, Cohen said in court that Kaplan had helped Bankman-Fried get an extended-release dose they had requested.

His lawyers have not raised the issue about Bankman-Fried's diet in subsequent hearings and court filings.

The Bureau of Prisons said inmates have access to Adderall "when clinically indicated."

BANKMAN-FRIED ALLOWED TO LEAVE JAIL FOR LAWYER MEETINGS

Bankman-Fried's defense lawyers said he was unable to review evidence stored on the internet to prepare for trial while incarcerated. As an accommodation, Kaplan allowed him to travel twice a week to a cell block in the federal courthouse in Manhattan to meet with his lawyers - though Bankman-Fried has complained of inadequate internet service there too.

Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a New York-based defense lawyer, called the arrangement "very, very unusual."

Once the trial began, Kaplan allowed Bankman-Fried to arrive at court several hours before proceedings began to meet with his lawyers.

BANKMAN-FRIED HAS A DEDICATED LAPTOP IN JAIL

MDC allowed Bankman-Fried to use a dedicated laptop in the facility's visitor room for several hours a day to review evidence brought in by his lawyers on hard drives.

Prosecutors said the jail had authorized Bankman-Fried to buy a second laptop to keep near his cell. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)