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On August 10, 2019, guards found Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier and convicted sex offender, unresponsive in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. After prison guards performed CPR, he was transported in cardiac arrest to the New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:39 am. The New York City medical examiner and the Justice Department Inspector General ruled that Epstein's death was a suicide by hanging. Epstein's lawyers challenged the medical examiner's conclusion and opened their own investigation, hiring pathologist Michael Baden. After initially expressing suspicion, Attorney General William Barr described Epstein's death as "a perfect storm of screw-ups". Both the FBI and the Department of Justice's Inspector General conducted investigations into the circumstances of his death. The guards on duty were later charged with multiple counts of record falsification. Many public figures accused the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) of negligence; several lawmakers called for reforms to the federal prison system. In response, Barr removed the Bureau's director. As a result of Epstein's death, all charges against him were dismissed, and ongoing sex-trafficking investigations shifted attention to his alleged associates, notably Ghislaine Maxwell, who was arrested and indicted in July 2020 and convicted on five sex trafficking-related counts on December 29, 2021. Another associate, Jean-Luc Brunel, was arrested by French authorities in 2020 and later committed suicide. Due to violations of normal jail procedures on the night of Epstein's death, the malfunction of two cameras in front of his cell, and his claims to have compromising information about powerful figures, his death generated speculation and conspiracy theories about the possibility that he was murdered. Other theories claimed his death was feigned. In November 2019, the contested nature of his death spawned the "Epstein didn't kill himself" internet meme. Public opinion polls suggest that only a small percentage of Americans believe that Epstein committed suicide; one such poll saw 16% of respondents saying they believed Epstein committed suicide, 45% believing he was murdered, and 39% being unsure. Arrest and imprisonment Apprehension and indictment On July 6, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in New York City on multiple charges, including sex trafficking, and held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. He pleaded not guilty. He faced similar charges in Florida in 2008, but escaped federal charges in a plea deal. Under its provisions, he pleaded guilty to two state felony charges, paid restitution to three dozen victims identified by the FBI, and registered as a sex offender in both Florida and New York. On July 18, 2019, Epstein was denied bail after offering $600,000 to be able to wear an ankle tracker at his New York City townhouse. He was viewed as a potential flight risk because of the 20 international flights he took in the previous 18 months. Epstein appealed the bail denial decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; at the time of his death, the appeal was still pending. Initial incident and final weeks At 1:27 a.m. on July 23, 2019, Epstein was found semiconscious in his cell with injuries to his neck. Prison officials questioned his cellmate, multiple murder and drug conspiracy suspect Nicholas Tartaglione. He denied harming Epstein. An internal prison investigation cleared Tartaglione of any connection to the event. An unnamed source claimed Epstein staged the incident in order to be transferred. Spencer Kuvin, a lawyer who represented three of Epstein's alleged victims, said in July 2019, after Epstein's first apparent suicide attempt, that he believed it was an attack on his life, and that there was a high probability that he would be murdered in prison. As a result of the incident, Epstein was placed on suicide watch. He was held in an observation cell, surrounded by windows, where lights were left on and any devices that he could use to kill himself were not permitted. After six days, psychological staff removed Epstein from suicide watch following a psychiatric examination. He then returned to the special housing unit (SHU), where he was to have a cellmate and be checked on every 30 minutes. A note written by Epstein was found in his cell after his death. In it, he complained about large bugs crawling on his body, guard Tova Noel giving him burnt food, and a guard intentionally locking him in a shower cell without clothes for an hour. On August 8, Epstein signed his last will and testament, witnessed by two attorneys who knew him. The will named two longtime employees as executors, and immediately gifted all his assets, and any assets remaining in his estate, to a trust. Death When Epstein was placed in the Security Housing Unit (SHU), the jail informed the Justice Department that he would have a cellmate and that a guard would look into the cell every 30 minutes. These procedures were not followed on the night he died. On August 9, Epstein's cellmate was transferred, and no replacement was brought in. The evening of his death, Epstein met with his lawyers, who described him as "upbeat" before being escorted back to the SHU at 7:49 p.m. by guard Tova Noel. CCTV footage shows that the two guards failed to perform the required institutional count at 10:00 p.m. and recorded Noel briefly walking by Epstein's cell at 10:30 p.m., the last time the guards entered the tier where his cell was located. Through the night, in violation of the jail's normal procedure, Epstein was not checked every 30 minutes. The two guards assigned to check his cell overnight, Noel and Michael Thomas, fell asleep at their desk for about three hours and later falsified related records. Two cameras in front of Epstein's cell also malfunctioned that night. Another camera had footage that was "unusable". Discovery As the guards were distributing breakfast shortly after 6:30 a.m. on the morning of August 10, Epstein was found unresponsive in cardiac arrest in his cell. He was found in a kneeling position with a strip of bedsheet wrapped around his neck. The sheet was tied to the top of his bunk. He was believed to have been dead for about two hours by then. The guards performed CPR on Epstein, and other prisoners heard them yell "Breathe, Epstein, breathe." At 6:33 a.m., the guards pulled an alarm, notifying their supervisor, to whom Noel said, "Epstein hung himself." He was rushed to the New York Downtown Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6:39 a.m. His body was transported to the medical examiner's office soon after. The removal of Epstein's body from his cell was a violation of protocol, as the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) mandates that a suicide scene be treated with the "same level of protection as any crime scene in which a death has occurred".... Discover the Dan Epstein popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dan Epstein books.