The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General released a scathing report on Tuesday on the systematic failures that lead to the 2019 death of Jeffrey Epstein, including how the disgraced financier was able to hoard prison supplies before he was found hanging in his jail cell from a noose he made from a “sheet or a shirt.”
The 128 report concludes that mismanagement and other failures by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and its since-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) gave Epstein the means and opportunity to die by suicide on Aug. 10, 2019, as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
The report, which wraps a years-long investigation, notes how multiple prison employees failed to conduct prisoner counts, cell searches, or assign a fellow inmate to watch over Epstein prior to his death.
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“Epstein’s cell contained an excess amount of prison linens, as well as multiple nooses that had been made from torn prison linens,” the report says.
As previously reported by The Daily Beast, Epstein’s month-long stint in the federal lockup was littered with complaints. He complained about the FBI confiscating his CPAP machine and how he believed the orange jumpsuit he was forced to wear made him look like a “bad guy.” He also had a slew of visits to a prison psychologist that included complaints about a toilet in his cell that flushed for 45 minutes, and frequent bouts of constipation.
Epstein was placed on suicide watch on July 23 after he was found “with an orange cloth around his neck,” the inspector general’s report says.
The report says Epstein’s cellmate told officers Epstein tried to hang himself. “Medical staff examined Epstein, observed friction marks and superficial reddening around his neck and on his knee, and placed him on suicide watch.”
However, the 66-year-old was removed from suicide watch on July 24 and remained under psychological observation for another six days. The report details how Epstein told prison staffers he thought his cellmate tried to kill him, but he later said he didn’t know how he sustained his injuries.
On July 30, the report states, an email was sent to about 70 prison physiological unit staffers detailing how Epstein needed to be housed with a cellmate. But Inspector General Michael Horowitz writes that the warning was ignored. Despite the previous suicide incident, prison officials violated procedure by allowing Epstein to remain in a cell alone for a full day after his cellmate left and to hoard extra supplies.
On Aug. 8, two days before his death, Epstein met with attorneys and signed a new “Last Will and Testament.” The next day, after Epstein’s cellmate was transferred, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit unsealed about 2,000 pages of “substantial derogatory information about Epstein” in connection with civil litigation against his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
“Also on August 9, after meeting at the prison with his lawyers, MCC New York staff allowed Epstein to make, in violation of BOP policy, an unrecorded, unmonitored telephone call before he was returned to his SHU cell,” the report states. “Although Epstein said he was calling his mother, in actuality he called someone with whom he allegedly had a personal relationship.” (Epstein’s mother died in 2004.)
Epstein was then locked in his cell for the night alone. At around 6:30 a.m., he was unresponsive.
The report details interviews with Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, the guards who found Epstein. Noel said Epstein was unresponsive when they tried to deliver his breakfast tray, so they opened the door to find him hanging from the top bunk.
“Noel said she observed Thomas lifting Epstein from under his arms and dragging him back out of the corner of the cell and laid him down on the ground to perform CPR,” the report states. “Noel recalled hearing Thomas say, ‘Breathe, Epstein, breathe,’ and ‘We’re going to be in so much trouble.’”
While Thomas was performing chest compressions, Epstein “looked blue and did not have a shirt on or anything around his neck,” Noel said. (Thomas and Noel were later charged with falsifying jail records to cover up their misdeeds, but the charges were ultimately dropped after they entered into deferred prosecution agreements.)
“A search of Epstein’s cell following his death revealed Epstein had excess prison blankets, linens, and clothing in his cell, and that some had been ripped to create nooses,” the report states. “Only one SHU cell search was documented on August 9, and it was not of Epstein’s cell. BOP records did not indicate when Epstein’s cell was last searched.”
The report notes that while there was “significant misconduct” by prison staff, investigators “did not uncover evidence contradicting the FBI’s determination regarding the absence of criminality in connection with how Epstein died.” The report makes eight recommendations to the BOP to address the issues that arose from Epstein’s death and called into question the safety of other inmates at MCC. That said, the investigation concluded that staffers and inmates did not have any information to suggest Epstein’s death was something other than suicide.
In August 2021, the BOP announced it was closing MCC after Epstein’s death highlighted a slew of problems.
“The combination of negligence, misconduct, and outright job performance failures documented in this report all contributed to an environment in which arguably one of the BOP’s most notorious inmates was provided with the opportunity to take his own life, resulting in significant questions being asked about the circumstances of his death, how it could have been allowed to happen, and most importantly, depriving his 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 states.
“The fact that these failures have been recurring ones at the BOP does not excuse them and gives additional urgency to the need for DOJ and BOP leadership to address the chronic staffing, surveillance, safety and security, and related problems plaguing the BOP.”
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can also text or dial 988.
