On Tuesday, the US Justice Department's watchdog reported that a mix of "negligence and misconduct" permitted notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein to take his life in a federal jail in New York City.
This latest report lands more than four years after Epstein died by suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
Epstein, at the time, was awaiting trial on serious sex trafficking charges.
In August 2019, Epstein took his own life in his cell while he was in custody on federal charges of sex trafficking underage girls and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking, with some of his victims being as young as 14.
A month before his death, 66-year-old Epstein was booked into prison. In less than 24 hours he was segregated from the general population due to his notoriety among the prison population, but initially, he had tried to adjust to prison life by requesting permission for more outdoor exercise.
His mental health began to decline, however, when a judge denied his bail on July 18, The New York Post detailed. He attempted to take his own life soon after, but survived. Then, days later, he died by suicide in his cell.
Now, Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department's Inspector General, has blamed the Federal Bureau of Prisons for their failure to provide Epstein with a cellmate following the departure of his previous one. The watchdog also highlighted issues with surveillance cameras as significant factors that contributed to Epstein's suicide.
Moreover, Horowitz pointed out that Epstein was left with an excessive number of bed linens in his cell. These linens posed a security risk and were ultimately used by Epstein in his suicide.
Horowitz's recent report details the findings of his investigation into Epstein's August 2019 death, marking the conclusion of several official inquiries into the case. He confirmed the outcomes of other investigations, stating there was no evidence suggesting foul play, thereby debunking conspiracy theories swirling around the high-profile death.
The Inspector General echoed prior conclusions that certain members of the jail staff tasked with overseeing Epstein were stretched thin due to overwork. He pinpointed 13 employees with subpar performance and suggested charges against six individuals. However, only the two workers directly responsible for guarding Epstein faced charges. They managed to dodge jail time by striking a plea deal after confessing to doctoring logs, The Guardian reports.
The watchdog's revelations arrive in the wake of the Associated Press gaining access to thousands of pages of records detailing Epstein's imprisonment, his death, and the ensuing turmoil.
The documents - obtained from the Bureau of Prisons under the Freedom of Information Act - revealed that Epstein had penned letter to convicted pedophile Larry Nassar.
The unopened letter to Nassar - who sexually abused young girls under his care as a doctor for the US gymnastics team - was reportedly discovered weeks after Epstein's death, with the investigator who found it telling a prison official via email: "It appeared he mailed it out and it was returned back to him. I am not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to anyone?"
In 2018, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison after more than 150 women and girls testified in court that he sexually abused them over two decades. Per CNN, the disgraced doctor was told by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina at the sentencing: "I've just signed your death warrant. I find that you don't get it, that you're a danger. That you remain a danger."
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