Prison Guards Responsible For Watching Jeffrey Epstein Have Been Arrested
Two of the prison guards who were responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein at the time of his alleged suicide were taken into federal custody on charges related to the case, a source told the New York Times on Tuesday. It was also reported that the guards falsified log reports to indicate that they checked on him when video surveillance showed that they didn’t.
The alleged suicide of the disgraced financier has been surrounded in controversy and speculation since the moment it was first reported. There were many suspicious details about the case, most notably the fact that he died under such strange circumstances while he was in a maximum-security prison.
The official medical examiner report concluded that Epstein died by hanging himself, but many people who were close to Epstein don’t believe the official report. In fact, many independent investigators to look into the case also feel that the medical examiner could have been overlooked important details.
Epstein found dead in his jail cell. Photo Credit: AP
Furthermore, the autopsy found that Epstein suffered from multiple broken neck bones, which is not common in cases of suicide. In fact, the Washington Post reported that there were breaks to Epstein’s hyoid bone, which is an injury that experts say is more commonly seen in homicide victims.
Jonathan Arden, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, told the Washington Post that the hyoid bone is near the Adam’s apple, and it is most common to see these types of breaks in cases of homicide.
Studies have also shown that it is incredibly uncommon to break the hyoid bone in a hanging suicide. One study that examined hanging suicides in India between 2010 and 2013 found that hyoid damage occurred in only 16 of 264 cases, which is about 6%.
These numbers are staggering and show that there is just a 6% chance that he actually killed himself, considering those injuries.
New questions about guards on duty during Epstein death
EPSTEIN GUARDS SCANDAL: There are new questions about the guards at the New York correctional facility where Jeffrey Epstein died, now suspected of falsifying log entries – as Epstein accusers continue to fight for justice. Linsey Davis reports. https://abcn.ws/2yZdZhx
Posted by ABC World News Tonight with David Muir on Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Suicides are not unprecedented at the facility that Epstein was being held, but they are incredibly rare. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the last inmate suicide at the prison took place in 2006. Considering the high profile nature of Epstein’s case, it is even more strange that suicide would be possible, especially because so many people were predicting that he would die in jail under suspicious circumstances.
The guards at the prison were supposed to be checking on Epstein every 30 minutes, which is the typical protocol at the facility. However, for some strange reason, none of these guards did their job on this evening, leaving him alone for significant periods of time. Coincidentally, multiple cameras that would have been able to see what happened inside the cell just so happened to have malfunctioned on that evening, leaving no footage of what took place in the moments that he was said to have taken his life.
Both of the guards who were arrested were said to have been working overtime because of staffing shortages on the night that Epstein died. Shortly after the incident, the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general announced an investigation into what happened on the night of Epstein’s death, then the two corrections officers were placed on administrative leave.