The US Department of Justice has denounced “serious” failures in overseeing the late sex offender Epstein. This made his suicide possible, but he sees no evidence of third-party fault.
Four years after convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in a New York jail cell, the US Department of Justice has made serious allegations against prison authorities and correctional officers. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a report that staff made “numerous and serious” errors in their supervision of the 66-year-old. This allowed Epstein to take his own life.
According to the report, the imprisoned multimillionaire was “unmonitored and alone in his cell” from the evening of August 9, 2019 at around 10:40 p.m. until his body was discovered at around 6:30 a.m. the following morning. He had an “excessive amount of bed linen” in the cell. This is a security risk – the millionaire used the textiles to help him commit suicide.
After 10:40 p.m., there were no patrols that were actually prescribed every half hour, Horowitz continues. In addition, Epstein would have had to share his cell with another inmate because of the risk of suicide, but he was transferred on August 9. Prison officials failed to move another inmate to Epstein’s cell. The report also denounces problems with video surveillance and fundamental problems such as understaffing in prisons.
Inspector General confirms FBI finding
“The mixture of negligence, misconduct and total failure to work described in the report contributed to an environment in which one of the most notorious inmates in federal Department of Corrections custody had an opportunity to take his own life,” writes the inspector general. This deprived Epstein victims of the opportunity to seek justice through the justice system. It also led to “questions about the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.”
The forensic medicine had declared that the very rich investor had taken his own life. However, a pathologist hired by Epstein’s brother questioned this finding and suggested that the millionaire had been murdered in his cell. An investigation by the FBI concluded that Epstein was not the victim of a crime. The inspector general of the Department of Justice has now emphasized that in the course of his investigation no indications emerged that would contradict the findings of the FBI. To this day, there are conspiracy theories surrounding death.
Epstein is said to have sexually abused underage girls and young women and incited them to prostitution for years. The multi-millionaire was convicted of sex crimes in 2008 but only served 13 months in prison under a controversial deal with prosecutors. In August 2019, he was found dead in his New York jail cell after being arrested again. If convicted, he would have faced decades in prison.
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