Report: Numerous failures in lockup enabled Epstein's suicide

A new Department of Justice report on Tuesday said negligence allowed high-profile sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to kill himself before trial. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz wrote that guards skipped bed checks and cell searches the night Epstein died. Epstein spent nearly eight hours alone and unsupervised in his cell with “excess prison blankets, linens, and clothing,” which he used to hang himself. The report also described an exhausted staff—with one of the two guards expressly assigned to Epstein working for 24 hours straight. Horowitz recommended federal charges be leveled against four of the 13 workers on shift.

Does the report dispel conspiracy theories that Epstein didn’t kill himself? Horowitz expressly stated that his investigation supports the New York medical examiner’s diagnosis of suicide. He blamed “the combination of negligence, misconduct, and outright job performance failures” by the federal Bureau of Prisons and workers at the New York City jail for failing to stop the suicide.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Emily Belz and Esther Eaton’s report on Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking trial.