Thousands of pages of documents were released to The Associated Press by the Federal Bureau of Prisons under the US Freedom of Information Act. The agency said on Friday that the documents included a detailed psychological reconstruction of events before the billionaire’s suicide, as well as his medical history, internal agency reports, emails, personal notes and other documents.
Epstein, 66, died on August 10, 2019 after being arrested a month earlier on charges of sexual exploitation and criminal association. He was found unconscious in his cell at the now closed Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. According to WNBC, the closure of the center was announced in the summer of 2021, and later that year prisoners were transferred to other facilities.
Two weeks before his suicide, Epstein reportedly sat in a corner of his cell with his hands over his ears. Reports say prison officials noticed he couldn’t sleep and had become restless, calling himself a ‘coward’ and complaining that he was struggling to adjust to life behind the prisons. bars. After the suicide attempt that had taken place a few days earlier, Epstein had been placed under psychological observation. However, after more than 30 hours of observation, he reportedly insisted he was not suicidal. He told a prison psychologist that he was living a “super life” and would “be crazy” to end it, according to the documents. Epstein said he was frustrated at having to wear the orange jumpsuit given to inmates at the detention center and asked for a brown uniform for frequent visits with his lawyers.
The emails showed that Epstein’s criminal prosecutor had complained about the prison office’s lack of information within hours of his death. In another email from a senior official, it was suggested that reporters should pay prison staff to report on Epstein’s death as they reported details of shortcomings at the correctional facility. The documents showed Epstein tried to contact Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing dozens of athletes, by mail. The letter was found returned to sender at the prison post office after Epstein died.
A memo from the head of the corrections department says Epstein informed a corrections officer of his mother’s call the day before he died. However, his mother had died 15 years earlier. During a medical examination, he was diagnosed with numerous health problems, including high blood pressure and insomnia. Two days before Epstein was found dead, he purchased $73.85 worth of items from the prison store, including an AM/FM radio and headphones.
Epstein’s prospects soured when a judge denied him bail on July 18, the agency said. The accused was told that if found guilty, he could face up to 45 years in prison. A few hours later, he was found on the floor of the cell after a suicide attempt, but he survived. Some time later, he made another suicide attempt.
The day before he died, a federal judge unsealed approximately 2,000 pages of documents in a sexual assault case against him. This, along with a lack of meaningful interpersonal relationships and the prospect of “potentially spending life in prison, likely contributed to Epstein’s suicide,” the officials wrote. Martin Weinberg, Epstein’s attorney, told The Associated Press on Thursday that conditions at the facility were “medieval.” “It’s sad, it’s tragic that it took such an event for the Bureau of Prisons to finally close this deplorable facility,” he said.
Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, who guarded Epstein the night he killed himself, have been accused of lying on prison records to make it look like they had done the necessary checks before Epstein was killed. found dead. Prosecutors alleged that guards sat at their desks just five meters from Epstein’s cell, bought furniture and motorbikes online and wandered around the common area of ​​the block instead of making necessary rounds every day. 30 minutes. According to their indictment, both appeared to have been asleep for two hours.
Noel and Thomas confessed to falsifying journal entries, but avoided jail time as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. Copies of some of those logs were included in documents released Thursday. Another Justice Department inspector general investigation into Epstein’s death is still ongoing, Fox News notes.
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