Justice Department watchdog blames Jeffrey Epstein's death on prison 'negligence, misconduct'

Financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's 2019 death in a Manhattan federal jail cell was the result of "negligence" and "misconduct" on the part of the Bureau of Prisons, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a report Tuesday.

"Epstein’s injuries were more consistent with, and indicative of, a suicide by hanging rather than a homicide by strangulation," the report also stated.

The inspector general said it "found significant job performance and management failures on the part of BOP personnel and widespread disregard of BOP policies that are designed to ensure that inmates are safe, secure, and in good health.

"The combination of negligence, misconduct, and outright job performance failures documented in this report all contributed to an environment in which arguably one of the BOP’s most notorious inmates was provided with the opportunity to take his own life, resulting in significant questions being asked about the circumstances of his death, how it could have been allowed to happen, and most importantly, depriving his numerous victims, many of whom were underage girls at the time of the alleged crimes, of their ability to seek justice through the criminal process."

Epstein was on suicide watch when he died, and his death has been formally ruled a suicide by the New York City chief medical examiner. 

The report also stated, "Epstein had an orange string, presumably from a sheet or a shirt, around his neck" and when the guard removed the noose, he dropped approximately an inch to the floor. 

The two prison guards who were assigned to monitor Epstein entered a plea deal in 2021 to avoid prison time.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.