Murders, mayhem and officer-involved shooting lead to charges at the Brooklyn prison where “Diddy” is being held

NEW YORK (AP) — Two inmates stabbed. Another was impaled in the spine with a makeshift ice pick. A correctional officer is accused of shooting at a car during an unauthorized high-speed chase.

The criminal complaints unsealed Monday offer a new window into violence and dysfunction plagued the federal prison in Brooklyn where Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried are imprisoned.

In total, federal prosecutors charged nine inmates in connection with a spate of attacks between April and August at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the only federal prison in New York City. The charges come amid efforts by the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons to address problems at the prison and hold perpetrators accountable.

Andrew Simpson and Devone Thomas have been charged with murder in a federal penitentiary for allegedly stabbing inmate Uriel Whyte to death on June 7. Jamaul Aziz, James Bazemore and Alberto Santiago were charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in a federal penitentiary in the July 17 killing of inmate Edwin Cordero. Makeshift weapons were used in both attacks, prosecutors said.

Attorneys who represented Thomas, Aziz, Bazemore and Santiago in their previous cases received messages seeking comment. Simpson's attorney declined to comment.

Four other inmates were charged with non-fatal assault. One was charged with assaulting a federal officer for allegedly punching a correctional officer in the face in August after the officer offered him breakfast. Two other people were charged in the ice pick attack a few days later.

“Violence will not be tolerated in our federal prisons,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. He said the charges should serve as a “warning to those who commit criminal behavior behind bars and to everyone else who enables those crimes: your behavior will be exposed and you will be held accountable.”

Also on Monday, a correctional officer assigned to oversee prison grounds was charged with civil rights violations for shooting his Bureau of Prisons-issued weapon at a BMW sedan in September 2023 after he ran the vehicle through a state-owned building Dodge Caravan had haunted the streets of Brooklyn. The BMW had three bullet holes in the rear exterior and one person inside was injured, Peace said.

The officer, Leon Wilson, 49, drove at more than twice the speed limit, ran red lights, narrowly avoided other vehicles and then returned to his post without telling anyone what he had done, prosecutors said. Wilson, a prison employee since 2000, encountered the BMW in the staff parking lot and chased it to a location near the Brooklyn Bridge, about five miles away, prosecutors said.

Wilson is at least the seventh MDC Brooklyn employee to be charged with a crime in the last five years. Others were accused of accepting bribes or providing contraband such as drugs, cigarettes and cellphones, according to an Associated Press analysis of government-related arrests.

A message seeking comment was left for Wilson's attorney.

The Bureau of Prisons says it is working to fix problems at the Brooklyn prison, where inmates, lawyers and judges have regularly complained about “dangerous, barbaric conditions” including rampant violence. Combs' lawyers filed an appeal Monday tried to release him from troubled prison as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges.

A group of senior prison authority officials known as the Urgent Action Team is focused on getting the Brooklyn Jail back to adequate staffing levels and ensuring it is in good repair. They have visited the facility repeatedly and meet weekly to discuss problems at the prison.

So far, the agency says it has increased staffing levels by around 20%, bringing the total number of employees to 469 by mid-September and around 157 positions remaining unfilled. The agency said it also addressed a significant maintenance backlog. Over a four-week period in the spring, temporary workers completed more than 800 work orders for repairs and infrastructure improvements. This included electrical and plumbing upgrades as well as repairs to the catering trade and heating and air conditioning systems.

“We take addressing staffing and other challenges at MDC Brooklyn seriously,” the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement.

According to prosecutors, Simpson and Thomas attacked Whyte by arming themselves with makeshift weapons and carrying out a series of two-on-one attacks on him after Whyte and Simpson got into a verbal argument. Simpson and Thomas were cellmates at the time and attacked Whyte in her own cell, prosecutors said. The violence escalated over a period of about 15 minutes, prosecutors said, culminating in a stab wound to Whyte's neck that severed his carotid artery.

In the attack on Cordero, prosecutors said, Santiago, Aziz and Bazemore cornered him after an argument between Cordero and Santiago, during which the latter stabbed him squarely in the chest, piercing parts of his heart. Bazemore then stabbed him in the back, and Aziz and Bazemore cornered him again and repeatedly stabbed, punched and kicked him, prosecutors said, including after he fell and tried to protect himself with a table.

A ongoing Associated Press investigation has uncovered serious, previously unreported deficiencies in the Bureau of Prisons, an agency with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates, 122 facilities and an annual budget of about $8 billion.

AP reports have revealed rampant criminal activity by employees, Dozens of escape attemptschronic violence, deaths and serious personnel shortages have that difficult responses to emergenciesincluding assaults and suicides by prisoners.

In April, the Bureau of Prisons announced it would close its women's prison in Dublin, California. known as the “rape club” Attempts to reform the facility abandoned after an AP investigation revealed sexual abuse by staff members toward inmates.

In July, President Joe Biden signed legislation to strengthen oversight of the Bureau of Prisons after AP reporting spotlighted the agency's many failings.

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