The warden at the federal jail where Jeffrey Epstein took his own life over the weekend was removed Tuesday and two guards who were supposed to be watching the financier were placed on leave while federal authorities investigate the death.
The move by the Justice Department came amid mounting evidence that the chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center may have bungled its responsibility to keep the 66-year-old Epstein from harming himself while he awaited trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls.
Epstein was taken off a suicide watch last month for reasons that have not been explained, and was supposed to have been checked on by a guard every 30 minutes. But investigators learned those checks weren’t done for several hours before he was found Saturday morning, according to a person familiar with the case who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Guards on the unit are now suspected of falsifying log entries to show they were making the checks, according to another person familiar with the probe.
In the past, guards at both federal and state prisons have faced criminal charges over false entries in duty logs that were discovered after something went wrong with a prisoner.
Surveillance video reviewed after the death showed guards never made some of the checks noted in the log, according to the person, who also was’t authorized to disclose information and spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity. – READ MORE