At the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn – the facility where the rap mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been held on a charge of sex trafficking conspiracy – drugs, homemade weapons and electronic devices were confiscated as part of the operation led by the U.S Bureau of Prisons, which insisted that it was acting independently of the Combs case in order to enhance security measures (a point underscored by the fact that he was transferred to an undisclosed federal facility in New York after the sweep). The jail of 1,200 inmates has faced critical attention after two stabbings resulting in death this past summer – most recently, this February, when a 28-year-old inmate was killed. Among the current occupants are Sam Bankman-Fried and, until recently, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The findings and subsequent indictments – including counts of murder and assault – reinforce the ongoing violence and criminality organised within these spacial confines. In particular, inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate attacks were reported, in addition to personnel-on-inmate contraband smuggling. The US Attorney Breon Peace made clear his representational stance on violence and criminality being handled without leniency in federal prisons: ‘There can be no place for violence and crime in federal jails. Anyone who takes part in such activity, including corrupt corrections officers who use their influence to help criminals, will face severe consequences.’ Combs has been battling his conditions of detention through appeals for bail, and has been presented with testimony against him at an upcoming federal grand jury.
While Combs’s lawyers ask the court for early discovery of evidence, such as the identities of his accusers, prosecutors have criticised these motions as improper, possibly endangering the security of witnesses and interfering with the prosecution. In the midst of all of this, court filings show that there are strict non-disclosure agreements, limiting public disclosures, that all attendees at Combs’s private events are required to sign before they are granted access to any one of his parties. The agreements prohibit any unauthorised recording or public postings on social media about Combs and those associated with him.
Source: The Guardian
