The Inspector General of the US Department of Justice ruled on Tuesday that a “combination of negligence and wrongdoing” allowed financier Jeffrey Epstein to end his life in a federal prison in New York while he awaits trial. for sex trafficking.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz cited as factors in Epstein’s death the failure of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to assign him a cellmate after the previous one left, as well as problems with surveillance cameras. Mr Horowitz also pointed out that Epstein was left in his cell with too many bed sheets, which is a security concern; these sheets were used for his suicide.
The Inspector General has released a report detailing the findings of his investigation into Epstein’s death in August 2019, the latest of several official inquiries into the matter. He reiterated findings from other investigations that there was no indication of foul play, refuting conspiracy theories surrounding the high-profile suicide.
Mr Horowitz echoed earlier findings that some prison staff responsible for monitoring Epstein were overworked. He identified 13 employees whose performance was poor and recommended that six of them be charged.
Only the two employees tasked with monitoring Epstein have been charged; they avoided jail time as part of a plea deal after admitting to falsifying records.
The report comes more than four years after Epstein killed himself at Manhattan Correctional Center while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and criminal association. It also comes weeks after The Associated Press obtained thousands of pages of documents detailing Epstein’s detention and death, and its chaotic aftermath.
Employees assigned to guard Epstein slept and shopped online instead of checking on him every 30 minutes as they should, prosecutors said.
Nova Noel and Michael Thomas admitted to lying on prison records to make it look like they carried out the checks, but they avoided jail as part of a deal with prosecutors. They left the Bureau of Prisons in April 2022, agency spokesman Benjamin O’Cone said.
Systemic failures
It is the second time in six months that Horowitz has blamed the death of a high-profile inmate on failings in the Bureau of Prisons. In December, the inspector general found that management failures, faulty policies and widespread incompetence were factors in the 2018 death of notorious mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in a West Virginia prison.
The AP obtained more than 4,000 pages of documents relating to Epstein’s death from the Federal Bureau of Prisons under the Access to Information Act. These documents which include a reconstruction of the events leading up to Epstein’s suicide, internal reports, emails, memos and other documents highlight how understaffing and cut corners contributed to the death of Epstein.
Epstein spent 36 days at the now closed Manhattan Correctional Center. Two weeks before his death, he was placed on suicide watch for 31 hours after what prison officials said was a suicide attempt that left him with bruises and scrapes on his neck.
Employees tasked with monitoring Epstein the night of his death were working overtime. One of them, who is not normally assigned to guard prisoners, was working a fifth consecutive day of overtime. The other was working compulsory overtime, which meant a second eight-hour shift in the same day.
Also, Epstein’s cellmate failed to return after a court hearing the day before, and prison officials failed to pair another prisoner with him, leaving him alone.