This archive report was first published on 10 August 2019.
Jeffrey Epstein's Death Raises Questions About Suicide Watch ¶
Jeffrey Epstein, the financier awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing dozens of girls, was placed on suicide watch after an apparent attempt three weeks ago. However, just six days later, he was taken off the watch for reasons that remained unclear.
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan on August 10, 2019. The Bureau of Prisons said guards made their morning rounds at 6:30 a.m. and discovered his body.
Epstein's death has raised questions about the steps prison officials took to keep him alive and ensure he would face his accusers in court. Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican on the Senate's Judiciary committee, said it was inexcusable that Epstein had not been under a 24-hour watch.
Attorney General William P. Barr said he had asked the inspector general for the Justice Department to open an investigation into the circumstances of Epstein's death. The F.B.I. is also investigating.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center houses about 800 people awaiting either trial or sentencing in New York City. Epstein had been held there since his arrest on July 6 on federal charges that he sexually abused and trafficked girls in the early 2000s.
According to a 2007 Bureau of Prison document outlining suicide prevention policies, inmates can only be removed from the watch when the program coordinator, who is generally the chief psychologist at the facility, deems they are no longer at imminent risk for suicide.
Under Bureau of Prison regulations, the government's jails and prisons must have at least one room designed for housing an inmate on suicide watch, and that room must allow staff members to control the inmate without compromising their ability to observe and protect them.
