Warden resigns from troubled federal jail

NEW YORK — The warden brought in to clean up the federal jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself has abruptly stepped down after a yearlong tenure marred by the rampant spread of the coronavirus, inmates’ complaints about squalid conditions, a smuggled gun and an inmate’s death.

Marti Licon-Vitale, 54, quit the Metropolitan Correctional Center this week. Her abrupt departure came about a week after staff at the jail left an inmate — whose lawyer says he has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old child — in a holding cell for 24 hours while awaiting a competency evaluation, a violation of prison system regulations. And in the last few weeks, a correctional officer at the facility had also reported sexual misconduct by a superior, which officials at the jail delayed reporting to senior officials, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The interim leader is listed in court papers as Eric Williams. He will be the fourth warden at the New York City lockup in 18 months, and the third person put in charge since a shakeup following Epstein’s August 2019 death.