Two weeks before his life was ended, Jeffrey Epstein sat in the corner of his Manhattan cell with his hands over his ears, desperately trying to muffle the sound of the non-stop running toilet.
Epstein was agitated and unable to sleep, prison officials note in records newly obtained by the Associated Press. He called himself a “coward” and complained that he was struggling to adjust to life behind bars after July 2019. Capture Federal Sex Trafficking Accusations of conspiracy – his luxurious life reduced to a cage of cement and iron.
The disgraced financier was on psychiatric monitoring at the time for a suicide attempt just days earlier that left his neck broken and bruised. However, even after 31 hours on suicide watch, Epstein insisted he was not suicidal, telling a prison psychiatrist he had a “wonderful life” and “would be crazy” to end it.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein died.
Nearly four years later, the Associated Press 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. They include detailed psychological reconstructions of the events leading up to Epstein’s suicide, as well as his health history, internal agency reports, emails, notes and other records.
Taken together, the documents obtained by The Associated Press Thursday provide the most complete account up to the date of Epstein’s arrest and death, and the messy aftermath. The records help dispel many of the conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s suicide, underscoring how fundamental failures in the prison office — including severe staffing shortages and staffing hacks — contributed to Epstein’s death.
They shed new light on the federal prison agency’s muddled response after Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the now-closed Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
In one email, the prosecutor involved in Epstein’s criminal case complained about a lack of information from the Bureau of Prisons in the critical hours following his death, writing that it was “frankly inconceivable” that the agency was issuing public press releases “before even telling us basic information.” We can pass it on to his lawyers who can pass it on to his family.”
In another email, a high-ranking Bureau of Prisons official falsely suggested to the agency’s director that news reporters must have paid prison staff for information about Epstein’s death because they were relaying details of the agency’s failures—a challenge to the ethics of journalists and agency workers. .
The documents also provide a new window into Epstein’s behavior during his 36 days in prison, including his previously unreported attempt to mail contact with another pedophile: Larry Nassar, the USA gymnastics team doctor who was convicted of sexually assaulting dozens of athletes.
Epstein’s letter to Nassar was found returned to the sender in the prison mailroom weeks after Epstein’s death. The investigator, who found the letter written to the prison official via e-mail, said: “It appears that he mailed it and returned it to him.” “I’m not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to someone?”
The letter itself was not included in the documents provided to the AP.
The night before Epstein’s death, he excused himself from meeting with his attorney to make a phone call to his family. According to a memo from a unit director, Epstein told a prison officer he was calling his mother, who had died 15 years ago at the time.
Epstein’s death put more scrutiny On the Bureau of Prisons and spurred an Associated Press investigation That exposed deep, previously unreported problems within the agency, the largest in the Justice Department with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion.
Associated Press reports revealed prevalence of sexual assault And other criminal behaviour By the staff, as well as dozens of escapes and prisoners’ deaths Severe shortage of staff that hampered emergency response.
An internal memo, undated but sent after Epstein’s death, indicated problems with the The prison is now closed to “seriously reduced staffing levels, inappropriate or lack of training, follow-up and oversight”. The memo also details steps taken by the Bureau of Prisons to address lapses exposed by Epstein’s suicide, including requiring supervisors to review surveillance video to ensure officers performed the required cell checks.
Workers assigned to guard Epstein the night he committed suicide, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, accused of lying to prison records To make it look like they ran the required checks before Epstein was found in his cell.
Prosecutors alleged that they were seated at their desks 15 feet (4.6 m) from Epstein’s cell, shopped online for furniture and motorcycles, and walked around the unit’s general area rather than making the required rides every 30 minutes.
During a two-hour period, both appeared to be asleep, according to the indictment. Noel and Thomas admitted to falsifying the registry entries but avoided jail time under a deal with federal prosecutors. Copies of some of those records were included among the documents released Thursday, with the guards’ signatures redacted.
Epstein arrived at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on July 6, 2019. He spent 22 hours with the general population in the jail before officials moved him to the special housing unit “due to a significant increase in media coverage and awareness of his notoriety among residents,” according to a psychiatric reconstruction of his death.
Epstein later said he was upset at having to wear an orange jumpsuit provided to inmates in the private housing unit, and complained of being treated as if he was a “bad guy” despite his good behavior behind bars. He required brown uniforms for his almost daily visits to his lawyers.
During the initial health check, the 66-year-old said he had had more than 10 sexual partners over the past five years. Medical records showed that he was suffering from sleep apnea, constipation, high blood pressure, low back pain and prediabetes, and had previously been treated for chlamydia.
Records show that Epstein made some attempts to adapt 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 had purchased $73.85 worth of money from the prison commissioner, including an AM/FM radio and headphones. He had $566 left in his account when he died.
Epstein’s outlook worsened when a judge denied him bail on July 18, 2019 – increasing the possibility that he would stay in jail until 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 bed sheet around his neck.
Epstein survived. His injuries did not require him to go to the hospital. He was placed on suicide watch and, subsequently, placed on psychiatric monitoring. Prison officers noted in the records that they observed him, “sitting on the edge of the bed, lost in thought,” and “sitting with his head against the wall.”
Epstein expressed frustration with the prison noise and his lack of sleep. His first few weeks at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Epstein did not have the sleep apnea machine he used. Then the toilet in his cell started acting up.
“He was left in the same cell with a broken toilet,” the prison’s chief psychiatrist wrote in an email the next day. “Please move him to the cell next door when he returns from legal work because the toilet still doesn’t work.”
The day before Epstein ended his life, a federal judge revealed 2,000 pages of documents in a sexual assault lawsuit against him. Prison officials noted that this development had eroded Epstein’s former high standing.
That, along with a lack of significant personal relationships and “the thought of spending his life in prison likely, were contributing factors to Mr. Epstein’s suicide,” officials wrote.
