NEW YORK — Investigators from several federal agencies launched an “interagency operation” Monday at the troubled New York prison where Sean “Diddy” Combs is being held.

Investigators from the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s office of inspector general and other law enforcement agencies arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center 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.

Jail officials declined to provide specific details about the operation Monday morning.

Combs’ lawyers highlighted a host of prison horrors — including deplorable conditions, rampant violence and multiple deaths — as they made repeated attempts to get him released on bail as he awaits trial next May on trafficking charges sexual.

The hip-hop mogul’s arrest and a rash of prison-related crimes in recent months have further fueled public interest, leading to increased scrutiny and a push by the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons to address the issues and to hold perpetrators accountable.

Last month, federal prosecutors charged nine inmates in a series of attacks from April to August at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the only federal prison in New York City. The allegations detailed serious safety and security issues at the prison, including allegations after two inmates were stabbed to death and another was stabbed in the spine with a makeshift ice pick. A corrections officer was also accused of shooting into a car during an unlicensed high-speed chase.

Earlier this month, an inmate was charged with a murder-for-hire plot that led to the death of a 28-year-old woman outside a New York nightclub last December. According to prosecutors, the inmate used a contraband cellphone to orchestrate the plot from behind bars while awaiting sentencing for directing another shooting years earlier.

The criminal charges provided a window into the violence and dysfunction that plagued the prison, which houses about 1,200 people, including Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange. The total is down from more than 1,600 in January.

In a statement Monday, the Bureau of Prisons said its operation in Brooklyn was planned in advance and there was “no active threat.”

The agency said it would not release further details about what investigators did until the operation is complete “in an effort to maintain the safety and security of all personnel inside the facility and the integrity of this operation.”

The facility, located in an industrial area on the Brooklyn waterfront, is primarily used for post-arrest detention of people awaiting trial in federal courts in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Other inmates are there to serve short sentences after convictions.

Inmates at the Brooklyn prison have long complained of violence, appalling conditions, severe understaffing and widespread drug and other contraband, some of which is facilitated by employees. At the same time, they say they were subjected to frequent lockdowns and were prohibited from leaving their cells for visits, phone calls, showers or exercise.

Twice denied bail, Combs is now asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to grant him his release. Arguments are scheduled for November 4.

Combs’ attorney, Mark Agnifilo, who previously sought to move him to a New Jersey prison, said at an Oct. 10 hearing: “We are trying MDC. MDC was very receptive to us”.

Another attorney for Combs, Anthony Ricco, told reporters outside court afterward: “He’s doing well. It’s a difficult circumstance. He makes the most of the situation.”

Ricco added: “No one agrees to stay in prison for now.”

Federal law enforcement officers stand outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is incarcerated, during an interagency operation, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)