Two weeks before taking his own life, Jeffrey Epstein sat in the corner of his Manhattan cell with his hands over his ears, trying to drown out the unceasing sound of the toilet running.
Epstein was agitated and unable to sleep, prison officials observed in records recently obtained by the Associated Press. He calls himself a “coward” and complains that he is struggling to adjust to life behind bars after July 2019 federal sex trafficking arrest and conspiracy allegations – his life of luxury turns into a concrete and steel cage.
The disgraced financier at the time was under psychological monitoring because of a suicide attempt just days earlier that left his neck bruised and scratched. Still, even after 31 hours of suicide monitoring, Epstein insisted he had no suicidal intentions, telling a psychologist in prison that he had a “great life” and “will very crazy” if it ends.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein died.
Nearly four years later, the AP obtained more than 4,000 pages of documents related to Epstein’s death from the federal Bureau of Prisons under the Freedom of Information Act. These include detailed psychological reconstructions of the events that led to Epstein’s suicide, as well as his health history, internal agency reports, emails, memos and other records.
Taken together, the documents obtained by the AP Thursday provide the most complete account yet of the time of Epstein’s detention and death, as well as its chaotic aftermath. The filings help dispel many of the conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s suicide, highlighting fundamental failures at the Bureau of Prisons – including severe staff shortages and staff cuts – that contributed to Epstein’s death.
They shed light on the federal prison agency’s messy response after Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the now-closed Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
In an email, a prosecutor involved in Epstein’s criminal case complained about the Bureau of Prisons’ lack of information in the critical hours after his death, writing that it was “incredible” that the agency The agency issued a public press release “before telling us background information so we could pass it on to his attorney, who could pass it on to his family.”
In another email, a senior Bureau of Prisons official made a fake suggestion to the agency director that news reporters pay prison staff for information about Epstein’s death. because they reported in detail about the agency’s failures – discrediting the agency’s own journalists and workers.
The documents also provide a new window into Epstein’s behavior during his 36 days in prison, including his previously unreported attempt to connect via mail with another famous pedophile: Larry Nassar, the doctor of the US gymnastics team, was found guilty of sexually abusing multiple athletes.
Epstein’s letter to Nassar was found returned to the sender in the prison’s mailroom a few weeks after Epstein’s death. “It looks like he sent it in the mail and it was returned to him,” the investigator who found the letter told a prison official via email. “I’m not sure if I should open it or who should we give it to?”
The letter itself was not among the documents turned over to the AP.
On the eve of Epstein’s death, he asked permission not to see his lawyer to make a phone call to his family. According to a memo from a unit manager, Epstein told a prison officer he was calling his mother, who had been dead for 15 years at the time.
Epstein’s death increased surveillance about the Bureau of Prisons and push for an investigation by AP uncovered deep, previously unreported problems in the agency, the Justice Department’s largest agency with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates, and an annual budget of about $8 billion.
AP report revealed rampant sexual abuse And other offenses by staff, as well as dozens of escapes, prisoners’ deaths and Severe shortage of personnel hindered response to emergencies.
An internal memo, undated but sent after Epstein’s death, suggested that problems in the prison is now closed to “severely reduced staff levels, inadequate or inadequate training, and monitoring and supervision.” The memo also details steps the Bureau of Prisons took to correct the flaws that led to Epstein’s suicide being exposed, including requiring supervisors to review surveillance video to make sure Officers perform cell inspections as required.
The workers assigned to protect Epstein the night he killed himself, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, accused of lying in prison records to make it look like they did the necessary checks before Epstein was found in his cell.
Prosecutors allege they were sitting at desks just 15 feet (4.6 meters) from Epstein’s cell, shopping for furniture and motorbikes online, and walking around the common area of the unit. instead of doing rounds on demand every 30 minutes.
Over a two-hour period, the two appeared to have fallen asleep, according to their indictment. Noel and Thomas admitted to falsifying diary entries but avoided a prison sentence under an agreement with federal prosecutors. Copies of some of those diaries were included among the documents released Thursday, with the guards’ signatures removed.
Epstein arrived at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on July 6, 2019. He spent 22 hours in prison before officials transferred him to special housing “due to a dramatic increase in the coverage of the virus.” the media and the perception of his notoriety in the prison community,” according to a psychological reconstruction of his death.
Epstein later said he was saddened to have to wear the orange jumpsuits provided to inmates in the special housing complex and complained about being treated as if he were the “bad guy” despite being in prison. good behavior behind bars. He required a brown uniform for his near-daily meetings with his attorneys.
During the initial physical examination, the 66-year-old man said he had had more than 10 female sexual partners in the previous 5 years. Medical records show he has sleep apnea, constipation, hypertension, low back pain, prediabetes and was previously treated for chlamydia.
Records show that Epstein made several attempts to acclimate to his prison surroundings. He signed up for a Kosher meal and told prison officials, through his attorney, that he wanted permission to exercise outside. Two days before he was found dead, Epstein purchased $73.85 worth of items from the prison commissar, including an AM/FM radio and headphones. He had $566 left in his account when he died.
Epstein’s prospects worsened when a judge denied him bail on July 18, 2019 – raising the possibility that he would be locked up until his trial and possibly longer. If convicted, he faces up to 45 years in prison. Four days later, Epstein was found on the floor of his cell with a bedspread around his neck.
Epstein survived. His injuries did not require hospitalisation. He was placed on suicide watch and then on psychiatric monitoring. Prison officers recorded in their diaries that they observed him, “sitting on the edge of the bed, deep in thought” and sitting “with his head against the wall.”
Epstein expressed frustration with the noise of the prison and his lack of sleep. His first few weeks at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Epstein didn’t have the sleep apnea breathing device he uses. After that, the toilet in his cell started working.
“He was still left in the same cell with a broken toilet,” the prison’s chief psychologist wrote in an email the next day. “Please move him to the cell next door when he returns from the courthouse as the toilets are still not working.”
The day before Epstein took his own life, a federal judge sealed about 2,000 pages of documents in a sexual abuse lawsuit against him. Prison officials observed that growth further eroded Epstein’s former high status.
That, combined with a lack of vital interpersonal connections and “the idea of potentially serving a lifetime in prison may have been contributing factors to Mr. Epstein’s suicide,” the officials wrote.
