According to reports, jail protocols requiring routine checks on the wellbeing of accused sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein appear to have not been followed in the hours before he was found hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. Epstein should have been checked on by a correctional officer every 30 minutes, according to Bureau of Prison protocols. But sources say that protocol was not followed prior to Epstein’s death by suicide.
In recent weeks, the correctional officers' union has complained of understaffing. The two guards that were at the Special Housing Unit where Epstein was housed, were both on overtime. One officer was working a mandatory overtime shift. The other officer was working his fifth overtime shift of the week.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was found unresponsive in his cell around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, the Bureau of Prisons said. He was transported in cardiac arrest at 6:39 a.m. to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to sources.
An autopsy on Epstein was performed today and the cause and manner of death are pending further information, according to the New York City Medical Examiner's Office. A private pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, observed the autopsy at the request of those representing Epstein.
