Jeffrey Epstein jail guards had been offered plea deal

Federal prosecutors offered a plea deal to two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein on night of his death, but officers have declined offer, people familiar with matter told Associated Press. existence of plea offer signals Justice Department is considering criminal charges in connection with wealthy financier’s death at Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August. city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.

guards on Epstein’s unit are suspected of failing to check on him every half hour, as required, and of fabricating log entries to show y had. As part of proposed plea deal, prosecutors wanted guards to admit y falsified prison records, according to people familiar with matter. y spoke on condition of anymity because y were t permitted to publicly discuss investigation.

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U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan had comment on plea offer.

Both guards were working overtime because of staffing shorts. y have been placed on administrative leave while FBI and Justice Department’s inspector general investigate circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. 66-year-old had been awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing teen girls.

Epstein was placed on a suicide watch after he was found on his cell floor on July 23 with bruises on his neck. Multiple people familiar with operations at jail have said Epstein was n taken off suicide watch about a week before his death, meaning he was less closely monitored but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

Epstein’s death exposed mounting evidence that chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center may have bungled its responsibility to keep him alive. Guards often work overtime day after day, and or employees are pressed into service as correctional officers.

Falsification of records has been a problem throughout federal prison system. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who was named director of Bureau of Prisons after Epstein’s death, disclosed in a v. 4 internal memo that a review of operations across ncy found some staff members failed to perform required rounds and inmate counts but logged that y had done so anyway.

“Falsification of information in government systems and documents is also a violation of policy, and may be subject to criminal prosecution as well,” Hawk Sawyer wrote in memo to top prison officials, a copy of which was obtained by AP.

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memo also ted that staff members who are indicted by a grand jury will be placed on an indefinite, unpaid suspension until resolution of criminal case.

Epstein’s ability to take his own life while incarcerated at one of most secure jails in America ended possibility of a trial that would have involved prominent figures. And it sparked widespread anger that he wouldn’t have to answer for allegations. He had pleaded t guilty and was preparing to argue that he could t be charged because of a 2008 deal he made to avoid federal prosecution on similar allegations.

Justice Department has vowed to aggressively investigate and bring charges against anyone who may have helped Epstein. Federal prosecutors investigating financier’s death subpoenaed up to 20 staff members at jail in August. Attorney General William Barr — who has said investigators found “serious irregularities” at jail — said FBI’s investigation had been slowed because some witnesses had been uncooperative.

In addition to shakeup at top of Bureau of Prisons, warden at Metropolitan Correctional Center had also been reassigned to a desk post at a regional office.