A combination of “negligence”, “misconduct” and “outright job performance failures” allowed notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to take his own life in prison, a new report has found.
One of the “most notorious inmates” in US custody was “provided with the opportunity to take his own life”, according to the report from the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.
The report does not disagree with the official verdict, delivered not long after Epstein died in August 2019, that his death was the result of suicide by hanging.
It also concurs with the New York medical examiner, noting there were a lack of defensive wounds or drugs in his system, pointing to suicide.
The various failures identified in the report include two members of prison staff failing to search Epstein’s cell and check on him every 30 minutes – and then lying about it.
Employees allowed Epstein to have extra clothing in his cell and failed to make sure he had a cellmate as recommended, the report added.
On 23 July 2019, 18 days before he died, officers found Epstein with an orange cloth around his neck, the report also says. His cellmate said at the time he had been trying to take his own life.
The report goes on: “Medical staff examined Epstein, observed friction marks and superficial reddening around his neck and on his knee and placed him on suicide watch. Epstein was removed from suicide watch on 24 July but remained under psychological observation until 30 July.”
Epstein was not observed for four hours before his death and had made a new will the day before – something prison officials were unaware of.
When Epstein’s cellmate was transferred on the morning on 9 August, no action was taken, and Epstein was alone in his cell, the report says.
Those failures and others deprived the financier’s “numerous victims, many of whom were underage girls at the time of the alleged crimes, of their ability to seek justice through the criminal justice process”, the report added.
The 66-year-old had been facing a 45-year sentence had he been convicted of multiple counts of sexually abusing underage girls.
The 120-page report has found some level of misconduct by 13 Bureau of Prisons employees, including two who were charged criminally and two others whose criminal referrals were declined by federal prosecutors.
The Bureau of Prisons said in a written response, included in the report, that it concurred with all eight of the report’s recommendations and that the “troubling” conduct described was not representative of the 35,000 employees who staff 120 federal correctional institutions.