Jeffrey Epstein’s legal team reportedly requested the wealthy financier be taken off suicide watch weeks before guards found him dead in his cell.
Federal authorities were holding Epstein in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on charges of child sex trafficking before the convicted pedophile was found dead in cell Saturday morning. Epstein is reported to have hanged himself, though New York City’s chief medical examiner has yet to release official findings.
Epstein’s lawyers requested that Epstein be taken off suicide watch, which requires around the clock surveillance of an inmate, in late July, according to the Wall Street Journal. Epstein was placed on the list after guards found him lying in his cell nearly unconscious with marks on his neck on July 23.
Reports suggest a series of mistakes and mishaps by guards and officials at the federal jail may have contributed to Epstein’s death. Many of Epstein’s alleged victims have expressed outrage that the accused sexual abuser was able to die by suicide before a trial could be held.
“I was appalled and frankly angry to learn of the [jail’s] failure to adequately secure this prisoner,” Attorney General William Barr said Monday. “We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation.”
Guards were supposed to check on Epstein every half hour according to his “special observation status,” but no guards appeared to check on the prisoner the night he died. His status also required Epstein have a cellmate, but Epstein was left in his cell alone for hours on Friday night and Saturday morning after his cellmate was moved.
