Prison guards assigned to monitor Jeffrey Epstein on the night he apparently killed himself fell asleep and failed to check on him for three hours before falsifying records to cover up their neglect, according to officials.
The two guards have been placed on leave and the warden of New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC) has been reassigned as federal authorities investigate the financier’s death, the Justice Department has announced.
It comes amid mounting evidence of failures at the chronically understaffed prison which allowed the 66-year-old to take his own life as he awaited trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls.
Epstein, who had attempted to take his own life in July, was taken off a suicide watch last month for reasons that have not been explained and should have been checked on by a guard every 30 minutes.
Investigators have learned those checks were not done for three hours before he was found hanged at 6.30am on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the case.
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406hangman ago
Sounds like the perfect place for a "dead man" to wait the final hours.