On Politics

Tue Jun 27 2023

Ella Lee | Politics Reporter

@ByEllaLee

Hi there, OnPolitics readers. New details about the circumstances that allowed disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to die by suicide were revealed in a DOJ watchdog report released Tuesday.

Epstein's death was facilitated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons' failure to address "chronic problems" within the agency, the report said. He died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August 2019 while charged with sex trafficking.

The findings: Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department's inspector general , found that job performance and functional failures, amplified by staffing shortages and a "widespread disregard" for BOP policies and procedures, made Epstein's high-profile death possible. The report also said the inspector general found no evidence contradicting the FBI's determination that there was no criminality associated with the high-profile death.

"The BOP's failures are troubling not only because the BOP did not adequately safeguard an individual in its custody, but also because they led to questions about the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death and effectively deprived Epstein's numerous victims of the opportunity to seek justice through the criminal justice system," Horowitz said in a statement released with the report.

The context: Epstein's case was sensational because he was an investment banker who counted among his powerful connections former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom. He had pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking and allegedly sexually abusing dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida. (His girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite was convicted in 2021 for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.)

Keep reading: Jeffrey Epstein suicide blamed on 'chronic problems' within Bureau of Prisons. What we know

If you or someone you know are having suicidal thoughts, you can call or text the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 any time day or night, or chat online at 988lifeline.org. More resources are found at the end of this article.

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