Federal authorities seized drugs, homemade weapons and electronic devices during a sweep of the jail where Sean “Diddy” Combs is being held on sex trafficking conspiracy charges ahead of a trial next year, the Guardian reports. The Bureau of Prisons, which headed up the interagency sweep of the Metropolitan detention center (MDC) in Brooklyn that began last Monday, said the action was not related to Combs’s detention but was “preplanned and coordinated to ensure the safety and security” of staff and inmates. The jail, which holds 1,200 people, has been under renewed scrutiny since two men were fatally stabbed over the summer. Five inmates were charged with murder. Four other detainees and a guard were also charged with assault over incidents that included a man who was stabbed 44 times by three gang members, and one in which an inmate was stabbed in the spine with a makeshift ice pick. A corrections officer was also charged with shooting at a car during an unauthorized high-speed chase.
“Violence will not be tolerated in our federal jails,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peaced, adding that the charges should 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”. The detention center has in recent years held Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and currently holds cryptocurrency swindler Sam Bankman-Fried along with Combs, whose lawyers have made poor conditions at the jail a part of their argument for bail. The music impresario, who is facing over a dozen civil claims of sexual assault, has asked the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to grant his release after twice being denied bail by two separate judges in Manhattan. A federal grand jury will hear new evidence against Combs this week. Prosecutors have urged a federal judge to reject requests by Combs’ defense team for early disclosure of evidence, including his accusers’ identities, describing the request as “blatantly improper”.