US Attorney-General William Barr has ordered the removal of the warden at the federal jail where financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in an apparent suicide, the US Justice Department says.

Key points: William Barr says anyone complicit with Jeffrey Epstein "should not rest easy" following his death

William Barr says anyone complicit with Jeffrey Epstein "should not rest easy" following his death Prior to Mr Epstein's conviction and subsequent death, he had counted the rich and powerful, including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, among his associates

Prior to Mr Epstein's conviction and subsequent death, he had counted the rich and powerful, including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, among his associates The decision by officials not to keep Mr Epstein on a suicide watch has come under scrutiny

The disgraced financier was being held in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC) on sex-trafficking charges when he was found unresponsive on Saturday.

The department said the warden was moved to another post within the federal Bureau of Prisons, appointing a temporary replacement.

They also placed two corrections officers assigned to Epstein's unit on administrative leave, who may return to work pending the outcome of investigations

Mr Barr said the MCC had "serious irregularities".

Mr Epstein, 66, was arrested on July 6 and had pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14.

Mr Barr vowed to carry on the case against anyone complicit with Mr Epstein.

"Any co-conspirators should not rest easy," he said at an event in New Orleans.

Mr Barr's comments follow reports one of Mr Epstein's two guards the night he died was not a regular correctional officer, according to Associated Press, which cited people familiar with the jail.

Serene Gregg, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3148, told The Washington Post that one of the people assigned to Mr Epstein's unit was not a correctional officer, but a fill-in who had been pressed into service because of staffing shortfalls.

It was not clear what the reported substitute's regular job was.

On the morning of Mr Epstein's death, guards on his unit were also working overtime shifts to make up for staffing shortages, one person familiar with the matter said.

The person added one guard was working a fifth straight day of overtime and another was working mandatory overtime.

Mr Epstein was already a registered sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of unlawfully paying a teenage girl for sex.

Before his conviction, he had counted the rich and powerful, including US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, among his associates.

In his remarks on Monday at the Grand Lodge Fraternal Order of Police's National Biennial Conference, Mr Barr said the criminal case against Mr Epstein was personally important to him and that his death denied his victims the chance to confront Mr Epstein in a courtroom.

"I was appalled — and indeed the whole department was — and frankly angry to learn of the MCC's failure to adequately secure this prisoner," Mr Barr said.

"We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation."

He added: "We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability."



Mr Barr did not say what those irregularities were.

Prison under scrutiny

The decision by officials at the Bureau of Prisons not to keep Mr Epstein on a suicide watch has come under scrutiny.

Inmates on suicide watch in federal jails are subjected to 24 hours per day of "direct, continuous observation," according to US Bureau of Prisons policy.

Jeffrey Epstein faced federal charges of sex trafficking prior to his death. ( Reuters: Florida Department of Law Enforcement )

They are also issued tear-resistant clothing and are placed in cells that are stripped of furniture or fixtures.

Those watches, though, generally last only 72 hours before someone is either moved into a medical facility or put back into less intensive monitoring.

Mr Epstein had been placed on suicide watch two weeks ago, but he had been taken off that watch at the end of July and returned to the jail's special housing unit.

There, Mr Epstein was supposed to have been checked on by a guard about every 30 minutes.

But investigators have learned those checks were not done for several hours before Mr Epstein was found unresponsive, according to a person familiar with the incident, Associated Press reported.

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That person was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and also spoke on condition of anonymity.

The jail does have a video surveillance system, but federal standards do not allow the use of cameras to monitor areas where prisoners are likely to be undressed unless those cameras are monitored only by staff members of the same gender as the inmates.

As a practical matter, that means most federal jails nationwide focus cameras on common areas, rather than cell bunks.

The facility where Mr Epstein died is run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the US Justice Department.

Even before Mr Epstein's death, public defenders had called the MCC conditions inhumane.

"At the very least, out of a case that's been nothing but tragedy, maybe this will at least shine a spotlight on a facility that has had serious problems for years and years," David Patton, executive director of the Federal Defenders of New York, said in an interview.

Mr Patton described MCC as an "inhumane, cramped place with inadequate staffing, particularly inadequate medical staffing or mental health staffing".

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 33 seconds 33 s Van reportedly carrying Jeffrey Epstein's body departs hospital

Eric Young, union president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals, said a Trump administration hiring freeze at the Bureau of Prisons had led to thousands of vacancies and created "dangerous conditions" for prison workers and inmates.

In a statement, Mr Young said that teachers, clerical workers and other support staff were regularly used to fill in for guards, adding that many guards are regularly forced to work 70-to-80-hour weeks.

US news organisation ABC News reported that it observed federal agents on Monday afternoon — including FBI and Customs and Border Protection — at the dock and on the grounds of Little Saint James, Mr Epstein's island home in the US Virgin Islands.

"There are FBI agents conducting enforcement operations in the US Virgin Islands," said FBI spokesman Guillermo Gonzalez, declining further comment.

Mr Barr said on Saturday that he had asked the Justice Department's inspector-general to investigate Mr Epstein's death.

Reuters/AP