Personnel changes made
2 guards suspended and warden reassigned after Epstein death
NEW YORK—Two guards assigned to watch Jeffrey Epstein the night he apparently killed himself in jail have been placed on l eave and the warden has been removed as federal authorities investigate the financier's death, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
The announcement came amid mountin ge vi den ce that the chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center may have bungled its responsibility to keep the 66-year-old Epstein from harming himself while he awaited trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls.
Epstein was taken off a suicide watch last month for reasons that have not been explained, and was supposed to have been checked on by a guard every 30 minutes. But investigators learned those checks weren't done for several hours before he was found Saturday morning, according to a person familiar with the case.
That person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
A second person familiar with operations at the jail said Epstein was discovered in his cell with a bed sheet around his neck. That person likewise spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason.
On Monday, Attorney General William Barr said that he was “frankly angry to learn of the MCC's failure to adequately secure this prisoner.” He added :“We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability.”
The Justice Department said the warden of another facility in up state New