Getty Image
Sean Combs, AKA Diddy, now claims that his constitutional rights are being violated. He says the federal government is spying on him in while he is in jail, limiting his ability to prepare for his upcoming trial.
According to court documents obtained by People, Diddy’s attorneys complained, “Mr. Combs cannot possibly receive a fair trial if he is not permitted to confer privately and confidentially with his counsel and others working at their direction, and to take and keep notes of his trial preparation.”
TMZ reports Diddy’s legal team also claims that the federal government has been working with Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff to monitor the rapper’s communications with his attorneys. They claim prosecutors have then used that information to block Diddy from receiving bail.
Diddy’s attorneys say one particular staffer took a photo of the notes and sent them to the prosecutors in the case … and they say the government orchestrated the jail sweep under the false pretext of a security concern.
In November, federal prosecutors, using notes obtained from Combs’ cell, claimed in court that he was engaging in obstruction of justice. The judge would later rule that the information obtained during that sweep of Diddy’s cell would be inadmissible at his bail hearing.
Diddy’s attorneys also complained to the court this week about not be allowed access to a laptop while in his jail cell.
“We write on behalf of Mr. Combs to request that the Court direct the MDC [Metropolitan Detention Center] to provide Mr. Combs with the laptop prepared for him by the government, and allow him to use that laptop on his unit, consistent with the way other inmates on his unit are permitted to use their laptops,” Deadline reports Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo wrote to Judge Arun Subramanian.
Agnifilo also complained about Diddy only being allowed to use the laptop in the prison “unit’s video-teleconference room during select times when legal staff is available and when that room is not otherwise being used during other inmates’ legal calls; or …he will only be provided with the laptop in the legal visiting room between the hours of 8-3:30pm.”
“These restrictions are untenable and from what we understand, not required of any other inmate on Mr. Combs’ unit,” Diddy’s attorney wrote. “They significantly limit the time available for Mr. Combs to use the laptop and force Mr. Combs to choose between using the laptop and meeting with his attorneys (who often meet with Mr. Combs over video-teleconference). There is also no justification for these restrictions.”