The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office will stop putting inmates on work release until a review of the program’s policies and procedures is completed, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw announced Friday evening.
The program has come under scrutiny amid accusations that financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued to have “improper sexual contact” with women while he was on work release from the county stockade about a decade ago.
The county’s Criminal Justice Commission, a 32-member panel that studies law enforcement issues, will review the program at the sheriff’s request.
Bradshaw, who has been sheriff since 2004, also has ordered a separate criminal investigation and an internal affairs probe into the handling of Epstein’s work-release arrangement. Lawyer Brad Edwards, who represents a dozen Epstein accusers, said lax supervision allowed Epstein to continue seeing women while he was in jail.RELATED: Some of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims don’t want new charges in South Florida »
Epstein spent 13 months in the county stockade during 2008-2009 as part of a once-secret plea deal widely criticized as being too lenient. The agreement ended a federal sex abuse investigation that involved dozens of teenage girls. – READ MORE