Federal investigators discovered that Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, had the chance to commit suicide as a result of serious mistakes at a New York jail.
A watchdog for the US justice department found that guards neglected to check on Epstein or search his cell and instead left him alone.
According to the report, 13 employees didn't perform their duties properly.
At the time of his passing, Epstein, 66, was facing federal sex trafficking charges and was awaiting trial.
The watchdog reported that it had found "many serious failures" in the jail.
The inspector general for the justice department discovered that guards did not perform rounds, did not keep an eye on Epstein, and later fabricated jail records to hide their wrongdoing.
According to the 120-page report, despite Epstein's prior suicide attempt, guards did not place him in a cell with a companion and gave him access to extra bedding, which he used to commit suicide. .
The report also states that security cameras close to the unit where he was housed were not functioning, so they did not record video of the area outside his cell the night he passed away.
a "combination of negligence, misconduct, and blatant failures in job performance. arguably one of the most notorious prisoners in BOP's custody was left unsupervised and alone in his cell," said Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the justice department.
Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Colette Peters responded to the report by stating that while the findings were "troubling," those accused of misconduct made up "a very small percentage of the approximately 35,000 employees across more than 120 institutions who continue to strive for correctional excellence every day.".
Any claims that Epstein's death wasn't caused by suicide were rejected by the report.
The disgraced financier, who socialized with some of the most well-known people in the world, was found guilty of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
In 2019, prosecutors claimed that he was in charge of a "vast network" of underage girls for sex, leading to his second arrest.
