Epstein Barr

[milkteeth]

The fact that people are still trying to make this into a purely Democratic or Republican scandal is truly mind blowing for me. This is beyond politics. If you were wealthy and/or powerful you ended up in Epstein’s little black book. Epstein bragged about how Trump was one of his best friends. He had 20 different numbers and emails saved so he could reach Bill Clinton. Steve Brannon was in his black book, and he mysteriously got his first job from Bill Barr’s Father.

There is some dark joke in here about how bipartisanship isn’t really dead in this country, but I’m too angry and disgusted to make it.

Edited August 10, 2019 by milkteeth

[formergothardite]

6 minutes ago, milkteeth said:

The fact that people are still trying to make this into a purely Democratic or Republican scandal is truly mind blowing for me. This is beyond politics. If you were wealthy and/or powerful you ended up in Epstein’s little black book. Epstein bragged about how Trump was one of his best friends. He had 20 different numbers and emails saved so he could Bill Clinton. Steve Brannon was in his black book, and he mysteriously got his first job from Bill Barr’s Father.

There is some dark joke in here about how bipartisanship isn’t really dead in this country, but I’m too angry and disgusted to make it.

There were entirely too many powerful men in this country who were not going to let this trial proceed. Clinton, Trump, Prince Andrew, and so many other men were involved in this. This  crosses both sides of the aisle and into different countries. It makes me so mad that all these men are almost certainly going to just walk away from this. 

[WiseGirl]

 

[Bethella]

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

But what if the videos and pictures they found show men with girls? Can they start a new trial on those people? Is that too much to hope for? 

I'm not a degreed law professional but a friend just posted on Facebook that due to Epstein's death, no one else will have standing to challenge the search warrant on his house. Everything will be admissible against any other defendant without the possibility of a motion to suppress. If that's true, some justice might still come out of this.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Bethella
tenses

[fraurosena]

Of course the deflection of the real issue has immediately taken flight, as @AmericanRose also says above.

As we already speculated in this thread, they simply couldn't afford to have Epstein alive to stand trial, or worse, to testify. 

But I'm not despairing yet. They may have murdered Epstein (or maybe he really did commit suicide, unlikely as that seems), and Epstein may not spill the beans. But there is somebody else involved in all of this, who knows as much as Epstein did, and maybe even more: Ghislaine Maxwell. And Guiffre's suing her... 

And then there's what @formergothardite said: there is much evidence in the hands of law enforcement that implicates others. It's not inconceivable that this information can and will be used against them. 

Edited August 10, 2019 by fraurosena

[Smash!]

Well I'm not so sure Ghislaine Maxwell stays alive... 

[fraurosena]

There is no doubt in my mind that if it wasn't a suicide, that the DOJ was complicit in Epstein's demise. 

 

Just now, Smash! said:

Well I'm not so sure Ghislaine Maxwell stays alive... 

She should be very, very afraid. 

[fraurosena]

Well, at least it's being investigated by the FBI... which also falls under DOJ, so not sure if that's a good thing or not.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Epstein’s accusers still deserve justice and will go after his alleged enablers, their lawyers say"

Spoiler

Lawyers representing Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims said Saturday that his death won’t stop their clients from seeking justice from those they say enabled or conspired with Epstein to allegedly sexually abuse dozens of underage girls.

The attorneys condemned as cowardly and unfair Epstein’s apparent suicide overnight while in federal prison on charges of sex trafficking.

“I guess there is somewhat an element of relief because the fear of him getting out is obviously over, but there is also, they’ll never be able to look into his eye and say, ‘You hurt me,’ there’s that element of closure that he’s taken away from them,” said Kimberly Lerner, an attorney for one of Epstein’s accusers.

But, Lerner said, Epstein’s death isn’t “the end, it’s just a new beginning.”

“There’s a whole network that enabled him and allowed this to happen and it’s time that everyone who was a part of this be held accountable,” she said.

Lerner’s client, Jennifer Araoz, is the only accuser who released her own statement about Epstein’s death. Araoz has accused Epstein of raping her in his New York City home when she was 15. She said she had been recruited outside her high school to make regular visits to his house.

“We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed the pain and trauma he caused so many people,” Araoz said. “Epstein is gone, but justice must still be served. I hope the authorities will pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers, and ensure redress for his victims.”

Epstein’s death came less than a day after new details about his alleged sexual abuse of underage girls were unsealed in court filings. In the documents — part of a lawsuit settled in 2017 against a woman who allegedly recruited women for Epstein — accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre named Prince Andrew, former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson (D) and former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) among the prominent men in Epstein’s orbit she was instructed to have sex with.

All three men have denied any wrongdoing.

Guiffre’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, said in a statement, “The reckoning of accountability begun by the voices of brave and truthful victims should not end with Jeffrey Epstein’s cowardly and shameful suicide. The fact that Epstein took his own life within 24 hours of the unsealing of detailed and devastating documents and exhibits in Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, which informed the public of the scope, scale and sophistication of the international sex trafficking operation Epstein conducted, is no coincidence,” McCawley said.

Spencer Kuvin, who represents three of Epstein’s accusers — a group of Royal Palm Beach High School students in Palm Beach County, Fla., when they allegedly worked for Epstein — said he spoke with one of his clients after the news of Epstein’s death, and described her as “numb.”

“She’s numb to what occurred because of the history and she wanted for years to put this behind herself,” he said. “Seeing an evil person like this ultimately end his life puts some closure on what occurred.”

“She would like to see a continued prosecution and investigation into those that allowed all this to happen,” he said.

Attorney Lisa Bloom, who currently represents two Epstein accusers, said she’d been helping them cooperate with law enforcement on a criminal case. Now that Epstein was dead, she said, they would be filing a civil case against his estate.

“I am calling today for the administrators of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to freeze all his assets and hold them for his victims who are filing civil cases. Their lives have been shattered by his sexual assaults, their careers derailed. They deserve full and fair compensation NOW,” she tweeted. “Jeffrey Epstein’s jail suicide means one thing and one thing only: consciousness of guilt.”

Brad Edwards, another lawyer for accusers, said this wasn’t the ending anyone hoped for because Epstein’s alleged victims deserved more.

“The fact that Jeffrey Epstein was able to commit the selfish act of taking his own life as his world of abuse, exploitation, and corruption unraveled is both unfortunate and predictable,” Edwards said. “The victims deserved to see Epstein held accountable, and he owed it to everyone he hurt to accept responsibility for all of the pain he caused. We will continue to represent his victims and will not stop in their pursuit of finality and justice. It is never too late to come forward with information.”

 

[fraurosena]

Epstein's 'suicide' is stunningly suspicious.

 

[Howl]

5 hours ago, Blahblah said:

Breaking : Epstein dead in jail:

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/jeffrey-epstein-discovered-dead-in-jail/news-story/76da5187f214be260cbfb2827bfa4f9e

Not happy to say that I called this.  He was simply too dangerous to too many people to remain alive.  Although I have to say that heart attack is a possibility.  He had to know that he would never be a free man again.   Just read that he hung himself. 

Here's a bit of information about his death from a TV station.  He was under heavy guard in a special part of the prison; he had been taken off suicide watch:

Quote

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons said Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center early Saturday.

Staff tried to revive him, and he was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Epstein had been held in the jail's Special Housing Unit, a heavily secured part of the facility that separates high-profile inmates from the general population, but his death is likely to raise questions about how the Bureau of Prisons ensures the welfare of high-profile inmates.

Attorney General William Barr said he was "appalled" by the news.

Before he took his own life, Epstein has been taken off suicide watch, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press. The person wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Feds raided the Epstein mansion.  If the evidence implicates someone that corrupt A.G. Barr perceives needs to be protected, that person will be protected and the evidence suppressed.  There is now zero pretense that the A.G. is serving DoJ, the nation or the law.  He serves Trump and Trump adjacent individuals, period.  

Edited August 10, 2019 by Howl

[Dandruff]

Was there anyone on the outside who he cared enough about to be willing to die to protect?  If not, he'd be doing it for himself - before having the opportunity to testify and possibly make a deal.  Doesn't add up for me.

[fraurosena]

Oh. I hadn't realized this.

 

This is good to know though.

 

[Howl]

Preet's point upthread is important. There should be video.  Too bad no one was watching it. 

[fraurosena]

 

Prison experts are stunned and angry that Jeffrey Epstein was taken off suicide watch

Quote

Even before his first suspected suicide try last month, Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps the most high-profile inmate in the federal jail system: a politically-connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. He was, by all accounts, the kind of inmate that should have been under the closest possible supervision.

Instead, Epstein was taken off suicide watch in the days before he took his own life, officials told NBC News, a decision that baffled former wardens and veterans of the federal prison system.

"For them to pull him off suicide watch is shocking,” Cameron Lindsay, a former warden who worked at three federal facilities, told NBC News. “For someone this high-profile, with these allegations and this many victims, who has had a suicide attempt in the last few weeks, you can take absolutely no chances. You leave him on suicide watch until he’s out of there.”

Epstein, 66, was placed on suicide watch after he was found passed out in his jail cell with marks on his neck inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center on July 23, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The conditions would have required him to be moved to a special bare-bones cell where he would be outfitted in a tear-resistant one-piece smock and receive stepped-up observation from a staffer or inmate posted outside, according to Lindsay and sources familiar with Epstein’s case.

But Epstein’s status was changed sometime in the last two weeks for reasons that remain unknown, officials told NBC News. The decision would normally have to have been authorized by the jail’s suicide prevention program coordinator, who is ordinarily the institution’s chief psychologist, and approved by the warden.

“Once an inmate has been placed on watch, the watch may not be terminated, under any circumstance, without the program coordinator or designee performing a face-to-face evaluation,” according to the federal Bureau of Prison official guidelines issued in 2007.

Epstein was discovered inside his cell about 6:30 a.m., and some union officials noted that many facilities operate with limited staffing overnight. The local federal prison union head in New York has previously complained about staffing shortages at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

The FBI is investigating the case, law enforcement officials told NBC News. The Bureau of Prisons will also launch an internal “after-action” probe, according to department veterans.

“It’s too early to say what I think should happen, but if this did occur as we believe that it did, some staff are going to have some hard questions to answer, I’m afraid,” said Lindsay, who served as warden at the nearby Metropolitan Detention Center from 2007 to 2009.

Bob Hood, a former federal Bureau of Prisons chief of internal affairs and former warden at the ADX Florence "supermax" prison in Colorado, said he also was perplexed by the decision to remove the suicide safeguards.

“Under the circumstances, I would have a staff member sitting there or have a camera on him 24/7 while he was in my custody, purely to cover my butt,” said Hood. “I know that sounds tacky, but this is not your average inmate.”

Attorney General William Barr issued a statement expressing concern over the case, saying he was appalled and that Epstein’s death “raises serious questions that must be answered.”

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also weighed in. “Detained pedophiles require special attention,” he tweeted. “Stopping people from harming themselves is difficult.”

Epstein has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center since July 6, when he was arrested on charges of trafficking and sexually abusing dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s. Epstein’s lawyers requested that he be allowed to await trial under house arrest at his $77 million Manhattan mansion, but a judge denied the request.

The MCC, as the facility is known, houses 763 inmates and is considered one of the harshest federal detention centers in the country. Epstein paid his lawyers to visit him nearly every day, allowing him to leave his cell and spend much of the day at a room designated for attorney meetings, according to sources familiar with his case.

Jack Donson, a former longtime federal Bureau of Prisons case manager, told NBC News that suicide watch in federal lockup "usually only lasts a few days to week" due to the amount of manpower the 24-hour surveillance entails.

"It requires staff to do overtime shifts," Donson said, and is "not considered a good use of resources."

Federal staff members will "make an assessment" about when they believe that "imminent danger" to the inmate has passed, and then the warden and chief psychologist make a determination about what to do with the inmate, Donson said.

Epstein had been placed in the MCC's Special Housing Unit instead of general population for his own safety, given his notoriety, and Donson noted that incidents of suicide are higher in the SHU.

"You're isolated with your own thoughts," he said, "and it's not as monitored and supervised."

Guards are supposed to check on prisoners every 30 minutes, but sometimes aren't diligent about doing so, Donson said, and regardless, inmates "can do themselves a lot of harm in 30 minutes."

He also raised the question of whether Epstein was in a cell with a camera, because some cells in the MCC have them. Officials will also review the range camera outside the cell to make sure guards had indeed been checking on him.

Joe Rojas, a union leader and guard at a federal correctional center in Florida, told NBC News he was shocked to learn that Epstein was not on a 24-hour suicide watch given his previous attempt and high-profile status.

"You don't have to be a psychologist,” Rojas said. “It's common sense.”

Epstein’s suicide has led some involved in his case to wonder whether he received outside help.

“It simply does not make common sense that Jeffrey Epstein was not on suicide watch,” said Jack Scarola, a lawyer who represents seven of Epstein’s alleged victims. “And it does not make common sense that if he was on suicide watch he could have successfully taken his own life unless he had some outside help.”

Epstein's death marks the second high-profile black eye for the Bureau of Prisons in less than a year. James "Whitey" Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster, was fatally beaten to death last October within hours of being transferred to the general population unit of a West Virginia penitentiary.

"This reminds me of the Bulger thing," said Hood, the former Colorado supermax prison warden. "Is there a way this could have been avoided? The answer is yes."

Until last month, Mexican cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was also held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Guzman's lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman told NBC News that he was leaving the facility after a visit in July when he spotted "a flash of silver" in the room reserved for attorney meetings.

“I looked over and there was Epstein,” said Lichtman, who had caught a glimpse of the accused child sex predator’s silver hair.

“It was pathetic. It was sad. He looked like an animal trapped in a cage.”

 

[Dandruff]

I'll be interested to see whether Jewish law with regard to autopsies and quick burials comes up.  I'd expect that the NYC medical examiner's office would want at least a quick look.  Don't know if they're open on weekends.  Goals will be to interfere with the body as little as possible and also to bury it as quickly as possible...which is already a concern since today's Shabbos and tomorrow will be the observance of a Jewish holiday.

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, Dandruff said:

I'll be interested to see whether Jewish law with regard to autopsies and quick burials comes up.  I'd expect that the NYC medical examiner's office would want at least a quick look.  Don't know if they're open on weekends.  Goals will be to interfere with the body as little as possible and also to bury it as quickly as possible...which is already a concern since today's Shabbos and tomorrow will be the observance of a Jewish holiday.

Was Epstein a practicing Jew though? And -- forgive my ignorance -- does that matter with regards to observing Jewish law in this case?

Also, in cases where criminal offences may have occurred, isn't it true that secular law supersedes religious law? Hypothetically speaking, if he were murdered, wouldn't his body be evidence, and therefore the need to preserve it would override any religious custom?

As to the medical examiner, wouldn't they be on call for such cases as this, no matter if it's a weekend or not?

Edited August 10, 2019 by fraurosena

[thoughtful]

57 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Was Epstein a practicing Jew though? And -- forgive my ignorance -- does that matter with regards to observing Jewish law in this case?

I don't know if he was practicing/observant/religious -- couldn't find anything saying whether he was or wasn't in a short search.

Are there any next of kin to express an opinion?

He sure wasn't an observant Jew when it comes to morality, but then, we all knew that  -- he wasn't following any moral guidelines from any source.

57 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Also, in cases where criminal offences may have occurred, isn't it true that secular law supersedes religious law? Hypothetically speaking, if he were murdered, wouldn't his body be evidence, and therefore the need to preserve it would override any religious custom?

I would hope so, but then, I'm an entirely secular person. I don't know if there have been any precedent cases -- any legal eagles here know?

ETA - just saw this:

Quote

The New York City medical examiner's office was also investigating Epstein's cause of death, a spokesperson told CBS News, and will conduct an autopsy and toxicology test to determine the cause.

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/jeffrey-epstein-died-financier-sex-trafficking-charges-dead-suicide-today-2019-08-10-live-updates/

Edited August 10, 2019 by thoughtful

[Dandruff]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Was Epstein a practicing Jew though? And -- forgive my ignorance -- does that matter with regards to observing Jewish law in this case?

Also, in cases where criminal offences may have occurred, isn't it true that secular law supersedes religious law?

Don't know if he was practicing but highly doubt it, considering.  Also don't think it matters.  He was Jewish - born to a Jewish mother - regardless of what he did and didn't do during his life.  Technically, Jewish law should apply but what happens tends to be based on personal preference and, in this case, circumstances.  If he expressed a wish for full Jewish rites then they should be observed to the extent possible.  If he had made arrangements for no Jewish rites then, barring outside interference, that's what he'd get.  If he expressed no preference then his next of kin would need to decide.  There are nuances here but I don't feel like writing a wall of text and am not an expert, anyhow.  I also want to limit the amount of time that monster gets to spend in my head.

With regard to the question about secular vs. religious law, I believe the short answer is yes - that secular law would supersede religious.

[fraurosena]

If there was foul play, then they really didn’t think things through.

 

[AliceInFundyland]

Shocking as a Duggar pregnancy.

[GreyhoundFan]

Because of course he did: "Trump retweets conspiracy theory tying Clintons to Epstein’s death"

Spoiler

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump used his Twitter account Saturday to spread a baseless conspiracy theory about the death of Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy and politically connected financier who had been facing multiple charges of sex trafficking involving underage girls.

Trump’s own Justice Department announced that Epstein, who was being held in a federal corrections facility, died by “apparent suicide.” 

But Trump appeared to disregard his administration’s statement, instead retweeting a message from conservative actor and comedian Terrence K. Williams, who suggested Epstein’s death might be tied to former president Bill Clinton. Williams also questioned how Epstein could have died by suicide if he had been on suicide watch.

The claim is completely unsubstantiated, and federal officials say Epstein was not on suicide watch at the time of his death. He had been placed on suicide watch last month but then taken off within a week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A Clinton spokesman responded on Twitter: “Ridiculous, and of course not true — and Donald Trump knows it. Has he triggered the 25th Amendment yet?” The 25th Amendment spells out a process for the president’s cabinet to remove him from office.

White House officials did not immediately return a request for a comment on why Trump was sharing the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the president’s retweet.

On Saturday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned against embracing conspiracy theories about Epstein.

While scrutiny of Epstein’s apparent suicide is “warranted,” Rubio said, he added: “the immediate rush to spread conspiracy theories about someone on the ‘other side’ of partisan divide having him killed illustrates why our society is so vulnerable to foreign disinformation & influence efforts.” 

The president — who is on vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. — is no stranger to using his considerable public platform to promote conspiracy theories, particularly those that target his political opponents. 

For years, Trump promoted the myth that former president Barack Obama was born in Kenya rather than in the United States. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump spread a conspiracy theory that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Rafael Cruz, was somehow connected to the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. 

He has claimed without evidence that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in New York, and once entertained an unsubstantiated theory that former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in his sleep in February 2016, may have been murdered.

Trump’s latest retweet will surely help fuel the conspiracy theories that have quickly spread online since the news of Epstein’s death broke Saturday.

Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan about 6:30 a.m. Saturday, according to officials. Several agencies, including the FBI, the New York City medical examiner and the Justice Department’s inspector general, have begun inquiries into how Epstein could have died while in federal custody. 

Epstein appeared to have hanged himself, officials said. Both the Bureau of Prisons and Attorney General William P. Barr called the death an “apparent suicide,” although one official said no final determination has been made.

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), who has demanded congressional investigations into Epstein’s past crimes, questioned whether Epstein’s death really was a suicide Saturday, suggesting without evidence that there might be a link between his death and the powerful people he associated with.

“There are a lot of very powerful people who wanted to see this man dead. So was it really just a suicide?” Frankel told NPR. “Was it just negligence by the officials who had custody of him? I don’t know, but I definitely think it needs to be investigated.”

Online, news of Epstein’s death quickly fed conspiracy theories Saturday that powerful people who once socialized with Epstein — such as Trump and Clinton — had a hand in the financier’s fate and stood to benefit from his silencing.

A #ClintonBodyCount hashtag trended on Twitter last month after Epstein was found injured and placed on suicide watch. It was revived Saturday, often in conjunction with hashtags about Epstein’s death.

Lynne Patton, a Trump appointee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, used her Instagram account to spread a version of the conspiracy theory.

But “Clinton” wasn’t the only name becoming fodder for proponents of conspiracies around Epstein’s death. An echo of the Clinton hashtag implicating the president, #TrumpBodyCount, was also trending early Saturday afternoon.

Various unsubstantiated Clinton conspiracy theories have circulated for decades, but some have criticized Twitter for giving them new prominence by allowing related hashtags to gain momentum and to show up in the site’s trends sidebar.

Twitter said in a statement that the social media platform’s trends are determined by the rate and consistency of tweets on a topic in a certain location. The company said the site aims to reflect the public conversation.

Twitter’s rules say it wants to promote “healthy discussions” and may prevent content from trending if it contains profanity, certain graphic elements, incites hatred on the basis of qualities such as gender or race, or otherwise violates Twitter policy.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[fraurosena]

I don't usually like to get sucked into conspiracy theories, but damn, it's hard in this case.

Epstein Was Left Alone and Not Closely Monitored Before Jail Suicide

Quote

Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who hanged himself in a federal jail in Manhattan, was supposed to have been checked by guards every 30 minutes, but that procedure was not being followed the night before he was found, a law-enforcement official with knowledge of his detention said.

In addition, the jail had transferred his cellmate and allowed Mr. Epstein to be housed alone in a cell just two weeks after he had been taken off suicide watch, a decision that also violated the jail’s normal procedure, two officials said.

The disclosures about apparent failures in Mr. Epstein’s detention at the Metropolitan Correctional Center deepened questions about his suicide and are very likely to be the focus of inquiries by the Justice Department and the F.B.I.

Officials cautioned that their initial findings about his detention were preliminary and could change.

The federal Bureau of Prisons has already come under intense criticism for not keeping Mr. Epstein under a suicide watch after he had been found in his cell on July 23 with injuries that suggested that he had tried to kill himself.

A person with knowledge of the investigation said that when the decision was made to remove Mr. Epstein from suicide watch, the jail informed the Justice Department that Mr. Epstein would have a cellmate and that a guard “would look into his cell” every 30 minutes. But that was apparently not done, the person said.

Senior law-enforcement officials, members of Congress and Mr. Epstein’s accusers have all demanded answers about why Mr. Epstein was not being more closely monitored.

Mr. Epstein’s suicide has also unleashed a torrent of unfounded conspiracy theories online, with people suggesting, without evidence, that Mr. Epstein was killed to keep him from incriminating others.

Over the years, Mr. Epstein’s social circle had included dozens of well-known politicians, business executives, scientists, academics and other notables, including President Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew of Britain and Leslie H. Wexner, the retail billionaire behind Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Mr. Epstein, 66, was awaiting trial on federal charges he sexually abused dozens of teenage girls when he was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.

That was a day after thousands of documents were released in a civil case that provided disturbing details about how he had lured scores of adolescent girls into prostitution, paying them to give him erotic massages at his mansions in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.

The former money manager was found semiconscious three weeks ago in a shared cell with bruises on his neck after a judge denied him bail. He was placed on a 24-hour suicide watch and received daily psychiatric evaluations, the official said.

But six days later, prison officials determined he was no longer a threat to his own life and put him in a cell in a special housing unit with another inmate, one prison official familiar with the incident said.

It is standard practice at the Metropolitan Correctional Center to place people who have been on suicide watch with a cellmate, two people with knowledge of Mr. Epstein’s case said.

But Mr. Epstein’s cellmate was later moved out of the special housing unit, leaving him alone, the prison official said.

Bureau of Prison officials said it is standard procedure for guards in special housing units to check on inmates every half-hour.

It remained unclear why that procedure was not followed in Mr. Epstein’s case. Like many federal prisons and detention centers, the jail has been short staffed for some time, union leaders have said.

The two guards on duty in the special housing unit where Mr. Epstein was housed were both working overtime, the prison official with knowledge of the incident said. One of the corrections officers was working his fifth straight day of overtime, while the other officer had been forced to work overtime, the official said.

An investigation by The New York Times that published last year revealed that federal prisons across the country, including the Metropolitan Correctional Center, have been dealing with rising violence as staffing at the facilities has dwindled.

Questions about the safety of such prisons arose late last year when James (Whitey) Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster, was brutally murdered in a West Virginia prison shortly after being moved there.

Only six days of suicide watch, and then later his cellmate (meant to reduce risk of suicide) was removed, against official prison procedures?  That is suspect as all heck. Who was responsible for these decisions? Was it recorded why these particular contra-procedure decisions were made?

[GreyhoundFan]