Federal law enforcement officers launched a massive contraband search at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Monday following a string of violent incidents involving illicit items being smuggled into the prison, according to officials and a person with contacts with the inmates.

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the operation was planned in advance and there was no active threat. As of Monday evening, the search continued. The bureau said multiple agencies were involved, including the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General. Video from a reporter at the scene shows personnel from the FBI and the US Drug Enforcement Administration outside the prison.

The search comes after nine people detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center were CHARGED last month with a string of murders and prolonged, non-stop knife fights. The prison entered intense control by city and state officials and was submitted urgent interventions by federal officials. Some judges have refused to send defendants there while awaiting trial. At the same time, several high-profile defendants awaited trial there, including Sean “Diddy” Combs, R Kelly and Sam Bankman-Fried.

People held at the facility said they didn’t know the searches would take place and texted early Monday morning saying they “got hit,” according to Mike Antone, a paralegal who was once incarcerated there and said he is now in the daily newspaper. contact with detainees. He said “to be struck” means to be searched.

“Everybody is thrown to the ground, handcuffed, taken out, strip-searched,” he said. “Then (they) put them in a dry unit, one by one, until they break the unit.”

Antone, who also leads a popular social media channel of the jail, said such searches can last six to eight hours, depending on what investigators are looking for. He compared Monday’s search to one a few years ago at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where a the loaded gun was smuggled in The search lasted several days, Antone said.

Contraband inside the prison was allegedly used in a December 2023 murder plot that involved three men communicating via cellphone to arrange to shoot rivals outside the prison, according to a recent federal indictment. indictment.

“I know personally that security guards will bring in phones for $1,000,” Antone said. “They’ll pick it up from an inmate’s family, the phone and the charger, everything.” In prison, he said the phones are then sold for four to 10 times their cost.

Representatives for the proofreaders’ union did not immediately return messages.

One of the recent actions federal officials have taken to stem the violence at the Metropolitan Detention Center has been to increase pay for corrections officers. Wardens in the federal system are paid nationally and less than local prison officers. In January, base pay started at $68,400 a year. That was increased to $84,000 and can go up to $103,300 after five years, officials said.