Investigators from various federal agencies launched an "interagency operation” on Monday at the troubled lockup in New York City 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 had descended on the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Monday “in furtherance of our intensive efforts to improve conditions” at the facility, the Bureau of Prisons said in statement.
The Bureau of Prisons told The Independent in a statement that Monday’s operation was pre-planned and that there is “no active threat.”
The law enforcement operation is “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.
Officials refused to provide the specifics of the operation to the outlet until it is complete “in an effort to maintain the safety and security of all personnel inside the facility and the integrity of this operation.”
The move comes after a series of violent attacks that have transpired at the facility — the only federal prison in New York City — in a matter of months. On September 30, the Justice Department announced that nine inmates were charged in five separate cases related to various violent crimes at the jail.
Over the summer, two inmates were killed by fellow inmates, leading to murder charges. In a separate case, an inmate was charged with assault after stabbing his fellow detainee with a makeshift ice pick.
“Violence will not be tolerated in our federal jails,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement at the time. “Let these charges serve as a warning to those who would engage in criminal conduct behind bars, and anyone else who facilitates those crimes: your conduct will be exposed, and you will be held accountable.”
Diddy is among the roughly 1,200 inmates currently housed at the Brooklyn facility.
The music mogul has been held behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center following his arrest on September 16 on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was denied bail twice.
“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told The Independent in an email in the wake of his arrest.
In early October, a team of lawyers announced that it plans to file more than 100 sexual assault lawsuits against Diddy in the following few weeks. The civil suits accuse Diddy of misconduct that spans from 1991 through 2024, the lawyers said.
So far, 13 of those lawsuits have been filed.
In one of them, a woman claims she was 13 when the music mogul allegedly assaulted her at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party.
His lawyers have denied the allegations named in the suits.
“Mr Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process,” his legal team said in a statement. “In court, the truth will prevail that Mr Combs has never sexually assault anyone — adult or minor, man or woman.”
