‘Interagency operation’ launched at jail housing Diddy
Investigators from multiple US agencies have launched an “interagency operation” at the troubled New York City jail where Sean “Diddy” Combs is being held.
The investigators from the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office and other law enforcement agencies descended on the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The law enforcement operation was “designed to achieve our shared goal of maintaining a safe environment for both our employees and the incarcerated individuals housed at MDC Brooklyn,” the agency said.
Prison officials declined to provide specific details about the operation.
Combs’ lawyers have highlighted a litany of horrors at the jail – including deplorable conditions, rampant violence and multiple deaths – as they’ve made repeated attempts to get him released on bail while he awaits trial next May on sex trafficking charges.
The hip-hop mogul’s detention and a rash of crimes connected to the jail in recent months have further galvanised public interest, leading to increased scrutiny and a push by the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons to fix problems and hold perpetrators accountable.
Last month, federal prosecutors charged nine inmates in a spate of attacks from April to August at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, the only federal jail in New York City.
The allegations detailed serious safety and security issues at the jail, including charges after two inmates were stabbed to death and another was speared in the spine with a makeshift icepick. A correctional officer was also charged with shooting at a car during an unauthorised high-speed chase.
The criminal charges offered a window into the violence and dysfunction that have plagued the jail, which houses about 1200 people, including Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
In a statement, the Bureau of Prisons said its operation in Brooklyn had been planned in advance and there was “no active threat.”
The agency said it wouldn’t provide additional details about what investigators were doing until the operation was complete “in an effort to maintain the safety and security of all personnel inside the facility and the integrity of this operation.”
Those held at the Brooklyn jail have long complained about violence, dreadful conditions, severe staffing shortages and the widespread smuggling of drugs and other contraband, some of it facilitated by employees.
Twice denied bail, Combs is now asking the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals to grant his release. Arguments are scheduled for November 4.
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