Bureau of Prisons director set for grilling on Capitol Hill in wake of Epstein, Bulger deaths originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The director of the Bureau of Prisons is set for a grilling in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in the wake of several high-profile deaths in the federal prison system, including those of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and reputed mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger.

In a letter to the agency, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who serves on the committee, said he understands Director Kathy Hawk Sawyer can't answer every question, but expects answers to those she can -- starting with those about Epstein.

"[Jeffery] Epstein's death in custody has ignited a crisis of public trust in your agency and exacerbated the erosion of trust that the American people have in our institutions of republican self-government more broadly," he wrote. "To pretend like this issue, which is by far the public's top concern with your agency, won't be a significant focus of this hearing is naive -- to the point of being laughable."

(MORE: Correctional officer suicides in 2019 tied for most in single year: Union president

"The Director welcomes the opportunity to speak to Congress and provide information to the members on a range of issues affecting the Bureau of Prisons," a BOP spokeswoman told ABC News.

Her testimony comes a week after three federal law enforcement sources told ABC News the two correctional officers who were working the night of Epstein’s apparent suicide were offered a plea deal and turned it down.

Charges could come as early as this month, the sources said.

PHOTO: This July 1, 2019 photo shows the Manhattan Correctional Center, in New York. (Richard Drew/AP) More

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Manhattan Correctional Center in New York in August, the Bureau of Prisons said. He was taken to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to sources.

His death came less than three weeks after he was found in his cell at the federal prison with marks on his neck that appeared to be self-inflicted, sources told ABC News. He was placed on suicide watch following the July 23 incident, but had been removed by the time of his death.

According to an internal document obtained by ABC News, an internal review of Bureau of Prison employees found that some employees falsified mandatory check records.

Every three hours, officers are supposed to check on inmates to make sure they aren't harming themselves or their cell mates, among other things. According to BOP policy, this is referred to as a mandatory cell check.

"As I have noted in previous messages, recent reviews of institution operations revealed that some staff members failed to conduct rounds and counts in housing units, yet documented they had done so," Hawk Sawyer wrote in an internal memo dated Nov. 4.

(MORE: Bureau of Prisons faces more scrutiny after the death of Jeffrey Epstein

The memo comes in the wake of an internal review as to whether the proper protocols were followed by correctional officers and staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Bureau of Prisons sources have said the internal investigation is still ongoing.

One prison union official described the memo as "hypocritical," and said that the memo will have a chilling effect on senior officers working in the Special Housing Unit.

"They have put inmates on equal par with the staff," that same union official said.

PHOTO: U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry, March 28, 2017, and obtained by Reuters, July 10, 2019. (New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services via Reuters) More

Hawk Sawyer issued a warning in her memo, saying that falsifying rounds is a violation of policy and could be subject to criminal charges. She also asked that all cases be referred to the internal affairs office.

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