A former inmate at the facility where billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died is casting doubt on the official narrative that he took his life in a Manhattan jail cell, noting that it would have been “almost impossible” to commit suicide inside the federal detention facility.

Epstein was found unresponsive inside his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and was declared dead after being taken to a nearby hospital. There was some immediate doubt cast on the manner of death, as Epstein had recently been placed on suicide watch and the facility where he was being held did not have a death by suicide in more than a decade.

Richard Stratton, a former inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, said in an installment of the podcast Epstein: Devil in the Darkness that he believes the wealthy financier was murdered. Stratton said that the security in the federal detention center was so high, a suicide could only take place if the staff were in on it.

“After having spent over two years in that institution, then another additional six years in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, I’ve come to conclude that nothing that happens in that system, in particular with a high profile prisoner like Jeffrey Epstein, happens without the full awareness and complicity of staff,” he said in the episode. “It’s my opinion and based on my experience that Epstein was murdered.”

Attorney Spencer Kuvin is also skeptical of the official story. Kuvin represented many of the victims from Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting an underage prostitute and spoke out in the podcast to question whether Epstein would even have the ability to take his life in the highly secured facility.

Kuvin described Epstein as an exceedingly confident man who seemed unlikely to take his life.

“I had come to that conclusion based upon meeting the man, seeing what kind of person he was, how big his ego was, how confident he was in himself. This was not a depressed man.”

There has been other speculation that Epstein’s death could have been a homicide. As The Inquisitr reported, famed medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden said during an appearance on Fox & Friends earlier this month that Epstein’s fatal injuries were more frequently seen in cases of “homicidal strangulation” instead of intentional hanging. Baden noted that Epstein suffered two fractures on both sides of his larynx and a fracture on the left hyoid bone above the Adam’s apple, injuries that are rare for hangings.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. For readers outside the U.S., visit Suicide.org or Befrienders Worldwide for international resources you can use to find help.