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Jeffrey Epstein Was Found In Cell With Bedsheet Wrapped Around His Neck
New details are emerging about how the wealthy financier died in jail as questions abound about why he apparently wasn't properly supervised.
Jeffrey Epstein apparently hanged himself in his Manhattan jail cell with a makeshift noose fashioned out of bedsheet, according to multiple reports.
The disgraced financier was discovered Saturday morning with the bed sheet wrapped around his neck and secured to the top of a bunk bed in the small jail cell, according to The New York Post. A law enforcement source told the news outlet that Epstein had strangled himself by kneeling toward the floor with the noose wrapped around his neck.
The morning Epstein died, loud shouting and shrieking had reportedly been heard from his jail cell, CBS News reports. Guards could reportedly be heard telling the wealthy hedge fund manager to “breathe, Epstein, breathe” after they attempted to revive him.
Epstein was found unresponsive in the cell around 6:30 a.m., according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. He was transported to the jail’s infirmary, before being transported to a local hospital where he pronounced dead.
In the days since the convicted pedophile’s death, serious questions have been raised how Epstein was able to kill himself while in custody at the Special Housing Unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan—a jail with a reputation as being highly secure.
The FBI and Justice Department are said to be investigating the death after Attorney General William Barr said he was “appalled” to learn Epstein, who was facing federal charges of sex trafficking, had died while in custody.
He blamed the death on “serious irregularities at this facility” and vowed to “get to the bottom of what happened” in Epstein’s final hours.
Monday the House Judiciary Committee also raised concerns about the death, questioning the condition of the prison, details of the suicide prevention program, and the circumstances around Epstein’s supervision, according to the Associated Press.
Epstein had been placed on suicide watch after he was found laying on his cell with bruises around his neck on July 23—but that designation was removed just days before he was found dead in his cell.
Under the jail’s policy, Epstein was supposed to be checked every 30 minutes by guards in the unit, but those checks reportedly didn’t happen the night before Epstein was discovered. The two guards on duty that night had both been working extreme overtime—with one working overtime for the fifth consecutive day and another forced to work mandatory overtime that day.
One of the two people had not even been a correctional officer, a source told the AP, although its not clear what the individual’s job title had been.
As part of jail policy, Epstein was also supposed to have a cellmate, however, his cellmate had been removed from the cell some time before the multi-millionaire seemingly took his own life.
An autopsy was performed Sunday, however, officials have yet to reveal Epstein’s official cause of death.
