A New York City federal jail has been accused of "negligence and misconduct” in the suicide of financier Jeffrey Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges in 2019.
Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2004. Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images
The lack of a cell mate, problem with surveillance cameras and too many bed linens, which were used in the suicide, were all preventable contributing factors to Epstein's death, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a report released Tuesday.
Horowitz said jail staff were overworked and committed "numerous and serious failures" leading up to Epstein's suicide, that he was never assigned a new cell mate after his was transferred to another facility and that "failure to conduct rounds and counts that evening...provided him an opportunity to commit suicide.”
The investigation into the jail is the last of several inquires into Epstein's suicide, which occurred just over a month after his arrest by the New York Police Department's Crimes Against Children Task Force for bringing "dozens" of underaged girls to his mansions for sexual encounters.
This is a developing story.