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Topics: US News, Crime, Jeffrey Epstein
Tom Wood
The US Justice Department watchdog has ruled that Jeffrey Epstein’s death was the result of 'negligence and misconduct' by officers at a New York federal prison.
The report found that Epstein died after multiple failures that led to his suicide in 2019.
However, it found no evidence to contradict the ‘absence of criminality’ in his death.
According to the report, several prison employees failed to conduct cell rounds and searches, as well as missing checks on Epstein and other factors that contributed to his death.
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The report also mentioned the failure to assign the billionaire to another cellmate after he was placed on suicide watch.
The report was released by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General earlier today (June 27) and was particularly critical of the Bureau of Prisons.
However, the office did not find any evidence ‘that contradicted the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) determination regarding the absence of criminality in connection with how Epstein died’, the report stated.
Epstein had been arrested and placed into the prison in 2019, charged with offences including federal charges of sex trafficking minors.
He was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, having died by suicide by hanging, according to the city’s medical examiner.
There were numerous conspiracy theories around Epstein’s death in the immediate aftermath, given his reputation as well as his contacts within the political world and beyond.
He was also the owner of an island that generated a load of conspiracy theories and controversy.
The report concluded that the Bureau of Prisons’ multiple failings were problematic because they failed to safeguard Epstein, as well as the fact they ‘led to numerous questions about the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death’.
The office also noted that Epstein’s death and the lack of a criminal trial denied justice to his victims.
In the aftermath, two guards admitted to falsifying records on the night of Epstein’s death, with both failing to complete proper checks.
The two judges entered deferred prosecutions with the Justice Department, agreeing to complete 100 hours of unpaid community work as well as cooperating with the DOJ’s Inspector General review.
That report found that other members of staff weren’t prosecuted by the US attorney’s office for New York’s Southern District, despite the OIG finding that they certified or submitted false documentation regarding details of the days around Epstein’s death.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center was closed down in August 2021 after the Bureau of Prisons said that it needed to improve conditions in the facility.
To this day, it remains closed.