Jail guards that were supposed to be watching Jeffrey Epstein are suspected of falsifying logs that recorded checks on the alleged sex offender and other inmates to show they were done more frequently than was the case.
According to surveillance video, guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center did not actually make some of the checks, which were required every 30 minutes, even though they were written in the logs, the Associated Press reports.
Cameras show jail guards never made some of the checks logged the night of Jeffrey Epstein's death, a person briefed on the probe tells the AP. https://t.co/t2wq3J9vrV
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 14, 2019
The information in the AP's report was based on an unnamed “person familiar with the investigation.”
Epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, was found dead in his jail cell early Saturday morning by apparent suicide.
Multiple reports describe staffing shortages at the federal jail, where guards were working extreme overtime shifts.
The Department of Justice said Tuesday the two guards assigned to monitor Epstein were placed on administrative leave.
“I was appalled — indeed, the entire department was — and, frankly, angry to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner. We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and that demand a thorough investigation,” Attorney General William Barr said Monday.
“We will get to the bottom of what happened at the MCC and we will hold people accountable for this failure.”