Every day brings more information Jeffrey Epstein – and the events surrounding his supposed suicide at the Manhattan Correctional Center.
Manhattan Correctional Center
And every day also brings more questions about Jeffrey Epstein – and the events surrounding his supposed suicide at the Manhattan Correctional Center.
Let’s take a look at some of both.
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Psychologist Removed Epstein From Suicide Watch
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has now confirmed that Epstein was removed from Suicide Watch by a “doctor-level psychologist” (whatever the hell that is) who had determined that continued 24/7 monitoring was “no longer warranted”.
Jeffrey Epstein and an unidentified female companion
That information was contained in responses to questions that had been posed by the House Judiciary Committee to the DOJ as part of its investigation into the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s supposed suicide.
Additional investigations are also underway by the FBI, by the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General, and by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
According to The New York Times, another investigation is underway in France “in connection with possible offenses such as rape, the sexual assault of minors and criminal conspiracy” (I wonder if France will ever get around to investigating Sarah Bronfman-Igtet and her Rainbow Cultural Garden operation over there).
Although the new information regarding Epstein’s removal from Suicide Watch sounds important, it is believed that all the prisoners who are removed from Suicide Watch in federal prisons have a similar notation in their file.
It is also believed that the vast majority of federal prisoners who are put on Suicide Watch only spend a few days there.
Thus, the fact that Epstein was taken off of Suicide Watch at MCC after just a few days may not mean anything.
Even if it was done under the authorization of a “doctor-level psychologist”.
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Fifteen MCC Guards Subpoenaed in Aftermath of Epstein’s Supposed Suicide
Hugh Hurwitz, the former acting Director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has been reassigned.
Hugh Hurwitz
So has Lamine N’Diaye, the former Warden at MCC.
And the two guards who were supposed to be checking on Epstein every 30 minutes on the night of his supposed suicide have been accused of sleeping on the job and falsifying official records to cover up their lapse (They noted in their logs that they checked on Epstein every 30 minutes).
Jeffrey Epstein
Now comes word that 15 guards at MCC have been subpoenaed by SDNY prosecutors as they try to pin down the circumstances that led up to Epstein’s supposed suicide on August 10th.
William P. Barr, the U.S. Attorney General, has indicated “Unfortunately, there have been some delays (in the investigation) because a number of the witnesses were not cooperative”.
Eric Young, the President of the union that represents federal prison workers, disputed Barr’s claim – and indicated that the Correctional Officers (COs) at MCC were willing to cooperate provided they were provided with immunity from prosecution.
The same can likely be said for most, if not all, of the prisoners being held at MCC.
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Staffing Shortages May Have Been Part of the Problem
Reports coming in from BOP facilities around the country indicate that many of them are experiencing severe staffing shortages.
Although such shortages were already occurring before President Trump took office, the government-wide hiring freeze that he imposed shortly after he took office has apparently exacerbated the problem at many BOP facilities.
The hiring freeze was lifted in April 2017 for many federal agencies but it was maintained at BOP for several more months.
At present, many BOP facilities are having difficulty maintaining the required number of COs who are supposed to be on duty – especially with respect to overnight shifts.
As a result, many federal prisons have required support staff – e.g., cooks, nurses, teachers, etc. – to fill in as COs in order to maintain required staffing levels.
One of the two staff who was assigned to guard Epstein on the night of his supposed suicide was not a CO – and, instead, was a staff person in MCC’s business office.
According to several reports, MCC currently has only 111 COs instead of the 137 it had when Trump took office.
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Jeffrey Who? Nope, I Don’t Think I Ever Met Him
One of the consequences of Jeffrey Epstein’s supposed suicide is an apparent nationwide outbreak of amnesia on the part of people who previously associated with him.
Mk10ART Portrait of Jeffrey Epstein
According to a new report by Julie Brown, the Miami Herald reporter whose investigative reporting led to the charges that resulted in Epstein’s incarceration at MCC, many people who were listed in Epstein’s “little black book” have no recollection of meeting him.
“My sister knew his girlfriend”.
“Maybe I handed him my business card once”.
“We met at a party a long time ago”.
Those are the kinds of answers she’s getting when she contacts people who are listed in Epstein’s “little black book”.
The 92-page document was first published in 2015 by the now-defunct Gawker website – which claimed that it had appeared in court documents regarding Epstein’s prosecution in Florida.
Brown and others recently started calling all the U.S. phone numbers that were listed in the document.
According to Brown, many calls were ducked – and few messages were returned.
“Those who did comment often said they were in the book because of their ties to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s socialite girlfriend, alleged enabler and business associate”, Brown said.
Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell
Which, given the numerous stories about Maxwell’s alleged involvement with Epstein’s underage sex trafficking operation, is hardly a great explanation.
“He relied on her to introduce him to all kinds of interesting people,” said Christopher Mason, who is in the black book and is the TV host of series “Behind Mansion Walls”.
“I was commissioned by her to write a song about him on his 40th birthday – to write a song and perform it,” Mason said. He went on to claim that he had only seen Epstein and Maxwell a few times after the event.
The big names in the black book have drawn broad attention – people like former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, President Donald J. Trump and a host of others.
Jeffrey Epstein with Donald Trump
One of the least credible responses came from former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine – for whom Epstein had an astounding 14 different telephone numbers (Who knew that mayors in Florida used burner phones?).
Although he declined to talk to the Miami Herald on the phone about his name being in Epstein’s “Little black book”, he sent a text saying that he’d met Epstein “a couple of times” but couldn’t recall how or where they met.
“No clue”, he wrote. “Probably at a NY event”.
Yeah sure…I believe that.
