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The person familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

The revelations are sure to increase scrutiny of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a high-rise facility in Manhattan where Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday while he was awaiting trial on federal charges alleging that he sexually abused dozens of girls in the early 2000s. After being found, he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The hanging, which authorities had classified initially as an “apparent suicide,” triggered investigations of how such a high-profile inmate, who was supposed to have been carefully monitored, could have died in federal custody. It also caused outrage among his victims and their representatives, who had hoped that Epstein’s trial next year would produce the justice they thought he had long evaded.

Photo by Jeenah Moon / REUTERS

The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not return repeated messages seeking comment for this article.

Barbara Sampson, New York City’s chief medical examiner, said her office conducted an autopsy of Epstein’s body Sunday but had not yet reached a determination on cause of death, “pending further information.” The medical examiner also allowed Michael Baden, a private pathologist, to observe the autopsy at the request of Epstein’s representatives, Sampson said.

The two corrections officers assigned to watch the special unit in the detention center where Epstein was being housed were working overtime – one forced to do so by management, the other for his fourth or fifth consecutive day, the president of the local union for staffers said.