Before his jail suicide, Epstein was left alone, not closely monitored
NEW YORK — Jeffrey Epstein, the U.S. financier who apparently hanged himself in a federal jail in Manhattan, was supposed to have been checked by guards every 30 minutes, but that procedure was not being followed the night before he was found, a law enforcement official with knowledge of his detention said.
In addition, the jail had transferred his cellmate and allowed Epstein to be housed alone in a cell just two weeks after he had been taken off suicide watch, a decision that also violated the jail’s normal procedure, two officials said.
The disclosures about apparent failures in Epstein’s detention at the Metropolitan Correctional Center deepened questions about his apparent suicide 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 had been found in his cell on July 23 with injuries that suggested that he had tried to kill himself.
The law enforcement official said that when the decision was made to remove Epstein from suicide watch, the jail informed the Justice Department that Epstein would have a cellmate and that a guard “would look into his cell” every 30 minutes.
But that was apparently not done, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the death was still under investigation.
Senior law enforcement officials, members of Congress and Epstein’s accusers have all demanded answers about why Epstein was not being more closely monitored.
Epstein’s death has also 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 had 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 H. Wexner, the retail billionaire behind Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.
Epstein, 66, was awaiting trial on federal charges he sexually abused dozens of teenage girls when he was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.
That was a day after thousands of documents were released in a civil case that provided disturbing details about how he had lured scores of adolescent girls into prostitution, paying them to give him erotic massages at his mansions in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.