Sean 'Diddy' Combs sentencing live updates: Combs gets 50 months in prison

To keep a pathway to the courthouse clear, court officials are keeping the media penned into specific zones - one on each side of the walkway - with bike rack-style fencing.

Some onlookers are hoisting their cellphones to record images of people walking by. A podium is set up with microphones from various outlets for possible post-sentencing news conferences.

As for security, officers from the U.S. Marshals Service are lined up in front of the courthouse door, including a pair of K9 units.

Outside the courthouse, it's a scene familiar from Combs' trial. Hordes of photographers holding cameras in outstretched hands, taking pictures and video of case-related figures, including some of the hip-hop mogul's children, who poured out of a black transport van about 15 minutes before the sentencing was to begin.

Combs mother, Janice Combs, arrived to the courthouse earlier in the morning.

On the sidewalk across the street, TV crews have lined up in front of a city park, broadcasting live while a jungle gym and basketball courts sit empty.

Sean Combs has asked to play a 15-minute video during Friday's sentencing hearing.

The video shows Combs playing with his children, mourning Kim Porter and giving motivational speeches at fundraisers in New York.

It is a selective compilation of a public figure who has been unceasingly photographed and videotaped at home and in professional settings and is meant to help convince the judge that Combs deserves imminent release.

The judge has seen other video that casts Combs in the reddish hue of a "freak off" or under the fluorescent hallway lights of a Los Angeles hotel punching and kicking Cassie Ventura.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky

Sean Combs plans to speak in court in the "most dignified and respectful fashion possible," according to a court filing from his lawyers.

In a letter submitted to the judge on Thursday, Combs apologized for his actions and argued he was reformed in prison, becoming sober for the first time.

ABC Legal Expert Channa Lloyd breaks down the charges against Sean Combs ahead of his sentencing.

"I have been putting in the work and working diligently to become the best version of myself to ensure that I never make the same mistakes again," Combs wrote.

The letter also stated: "I want to apologize and say how sincerely sorry I am for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused others by my conduct. I take full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs."