Suicides at the New York City high-security facility are rare, causing conspiracy theories to swirl online

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

News that Jeffrey Epstein was found dead on Saturday morning in his jail cell has raised questions of how a high-profile suspect was able to apparently kill himself inside one of the country’s most high-security prisons.

Epstein, who was arrested in July for the alleged sex trafficking of minors, died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, located in downtown New York City. The FBI and DoJ have launched investigations into Epstein’s death.

With a lack of answers coming from prison officials, conspiracy theories flourished on social media over the weekend with #EpsteinMurder trending worldwide.

Jeffrey Epstein's death: the end of the scandal? Read more

Citing ongoing investigations into Epstein’s death, the Bureau of Prisons has been hush about specific details that led to the former financier’s apparent suicide, leaving only a few known facts in a pool of unanswered questions.

What we know about Epstein’s death

The Bureau of Prisons has released only one official statement since Epstein’s death on Saturday. The statement confirmed that around 6:30 am on 10 August, Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of the prison “from an apparent suicide”. The Bureau of Prisons has not released any further information .

What we know about the federal prison where Epstein died

The Metropolitan Correction Center is no stranger to high-profile prisoners.

Along with a laundry list of former mob bosses and con men, violent Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was held in the Manhattan prison until July, when he was transferred to a maximum-security prison in Colorado.

The conditions of the prison are a far cry from the plushy life that Epstein was accustomed to leading up to his arrest.

In a statement released via his attorney, Guzmán – who had escaped high-security prisons in Mexico twice before – called his two years at Metropolitan Correctional Center “torture”, citing bright 24-hour lights and little access to human interaction or the outside world.

“I’ve been forced to drink unsanitary water. I’ve been denied access to fresh air and sunlight. The only sunlight I have in my cell comes through in the air vent,” he wrote in a statement.

Suicides at the high-security prison are rare, though it’s unclear how many attempts have been made in the past. In a review of published reports of suicides at the Manhattan prison, the New York Post reported that the latest suicide was in 1998 involving a Philadelphia drug lord.

What we don’t know

The official cause of Epstein’s death

While the DoJ says that Epstein’s death was an “apparent suicide”, New York’s chief medical examiner Medical Examiner hasn’t confirmed that suicide was the cause of death.

In a statement released to the media on Sunday, Barbara Sampson, the city’s chief medical examiner, said that the office’s “determination is pending further information at this time”.

“My office defers to the involved law enforcement agencies regarding other investigations around this death,” the statement said.

The circumstances around Epstein’s death

Authorities have not officially confirmed multiple reports that Epstein was put on suicide watch after his alleged suicide attempt in July and that he was taken off suicide watch by the time of his death.

Anonymous sources said that Epstein was supposed to be checked on by two guards every 30 minutes and he was supposed to have another inmate in the cell with him. Instead, Epstein was allegedly not checked on for several hours, and his former inmate was transferred, leaving Epstein alone and unmonitored. These reports have not been officially confirmed by authorities.

The union representing correctional officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center has offered up some potential causes of the negligence. Union representatives say that circumstances around Epstein’s death were likely caused, in part, by staffing shortages at the prison.

Serene Gregg, the head of the local government employees union that organizes correctional officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, told the Washington Post that the prison had been functioning with less than 70% of the needed correctional officers, with many being forced to work 60- to 70-hour work weeks.

An anonymous source told the Associated Press that both guards working at Epstein’s unit were working overtime, one for a fifth day straight.

Whether there were cameras in Epstein’s cell

It’s unclear whether Epstein was under video surveillance at the time of his death.

Preet Bharara who, as former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, worked next door to the federal prison, said on Twitter that “there should be – and almost certainly is – video of Epstein’s suicide at MCC. One hopes it is complete, conclusive, and secured.”

But Eric Young, president of the national council of union chapters that cover prison employees, told the New York Times that Epstein was likely not under surveillance.

Young said there are cameras in the hallways and common areas of the prison – “from the moment you walk onto that property, you are under camera surveillance”, he said – but not the individual cell unit where Epstein was held.

Other anonymous officials have told media outlets there was no video surveillance.