Prison bureau criticized after Epstein death

Financier was left alone in cell and not closely monitored

NEW YORK » It was Friday night in a protective housing unit of the federal jail in lower Manhattan, and Jeffrey Epstein, the financier accused of trafficking girls for sex, was alone in a cell, only 11 days after he had been taken off a suicide watch.

Just that morning, thousands of documents from a civil suit had been released, providing lurid accounts accusing Epstein of sexually abusing scores of girls.

Epstein was supposed to have been checked by the two guards in the protective housing unit every 30 minutes, but that procedure was not followed that night, a law enforcement official with knowledge of his detention said.

In addition, because Epstein may have tried to kill himself three weeks earlier, he was supposed to have had another inmate in his cell, two officials said. But the jail had recently transferred his cellmate and allowed Epstein to be housed alone, a decision that also violated the jail's procedures, the two officials said.

At 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, guards doing morning rounds found him dead in his cell. Epstein, 66, had apparently hanged himself.

The disclosures about these seeming failures in Epstein's detention at the Metropolitan Correctional Center deepened questions about his death and are very likely to be the focus of inquiries by the Justice Department and the FBI.

Officials cautioned that their initial findings about his detention were preliminary and could change.

The federal Bureau of Prisons has already come under intense criticism for not keeping Epstein under

a suicide watch after he was found in his cell July 23 with injuries that suggested he had tried to kill himself.

The law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said that when the decision was made to remove Epstein from suicide watch, the jail informed the Justice Department that he would have a cellmate and that a guard “would look into his cell” every 30 minutes.

But that apparently was not done, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the death was under investigation.

Senior law enforcement officials, members of Congress and Epstein's accusers have all demanded answers about why he was not being more closely monitored. On Sunday, the Bureau of Prisons offered no explanation for why Epstein was left alone and not checked on.

His death also has unleashed a torrent of unfounded conspiracy theories online, with people suggesting, without evidence, that Epstein was

killed to keep him from incriminating others.

Over the years, Epstein's social circle included dozens of well-known politicians, business executives, scientists, academics and other notables, including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew of Britain and Leslie Wexner, the retail billionaire behind Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Investigators are expected to focus on the timeline of what happened in the period after Epstein was found semiconscious less than three weeks ago in a shared cell, with bruises on his neck, after a judge denied him bail.

He was placed on a 24hour suicide watch and received daily psychiatric evaluations, the law enforcement official said.

But six days later, prison officials determined he was no longer a threat to his own life and put him in a cell in the protective housing unit with another inmate, a prison official familiar with the incident said.

It is standard practice at

the Metropolitan Correctional Center to place people who have been on suicide watch with a cellmate, two people with knowledge of Epstein's case said. The theory is a cellmate can provide company to someone who may be suicidal, helping the cellmate stave off depression, and can also alert guards in an emergency.

But Epstein's cellmate was moved out of the protective housing unit, leaving him alone, the prison official said.

Bureau of Prison officials said it is standard procedure for guards in protective housing units to check on inmates every half-hour.

It remained unclear why that procedure was not followed in Epstein's case. Like many federal prisons and detention centers, the jail has been short staffed for some time, union leaders have said.

The two guards on duty in the special housing unit where Epstein was housed were both working overtime, the prison official with knowledge of the incident said.

One of the corrections officers

was working his fifth straight day of overtime, while the other officer had been forced to work overtime, the official said.

Cameron Lindsay, a former warden at the federal jail in Brooklyn and four other facilities, said senior officials at the MCC made a series of mistakes in handling Epstein.

For starters, Lindsay said Epstein should not have been taken off suicide watch, even if the prison's chief psychologist had determined it was safe to do so. With a high-profile inmate, the warden should have erred on the side of caution and kept him under close surveillance, separate from other inmates, Lindsay said.

“A psychologist is going to think one way, but a warden needs to think a different way,” he said. “You have to take the conservative, safe route and keep an individual like this on suicide watch.”

Lindsay pointed out that Epstein also was at risk to be attacked by other inmates because of the nature of the allegations against him. “In the subculture of prisons, it's a badge of honor to take someone out like that,” he said.

Other former prison officials also questioned the prison's decision to put Epstein on suicide watch for such a short period of time.

Though it is not uncommon for an inmate to be on suicide watch for less than a week, that is typically done in cases when an inmate receives bad news in court or from family — not soon after a suicide attempt, said Bob Hood, a former chief of internal affairs for the Bureau of Prisons.

In Epstein's case, not only did he apparently attempt suicide July 23, but humiliating information continued to be released to the public through news outlets, Hood said. That would normally have prompted prison officials to keep him under closer surveillance, not remove him from the 24-hour-a-day suicide watch, he said.

“Why he was taken off suicide watch is beyond me,” said Hood. He added, “A man is dead. The Bureau of Prisons dropped the ball. Period.”