“Once an inmate has been placed on watch, the watch may not be terminated, under any circumstance, without the program coordinator or designee performing a face-to-face evaluation,” according to the federal Bureau of Prisons official guidelines issued in 2007.
The FBI is investigating the case, law enforcement officials told NBC News. The Bureau of Prisons will also launch an internal “after-action” probe, according to department veterans.
“It’s too early to say what I think should happen, but if this did occur as we believe that it did, some staff are going to have some hard questions to answer,” said Lindsay, who served as warden at the nearby Metropolitan Detention Center from 2007 to 2009.
Bob Hood, a former federal Bureau of Prisons chief of internal affairs and former warden at the ADX Florence "supermax" prison in Colorado, said he also was perplexed by the decision to remove the suicide safeguards.
“Under the circumstances, I would have a staff member sitting there or have a camera on him 24/7 while he was in my custody, purely to cover my butt,” Hood said. “I know that sounds tacky, but this is not your average inmate.”
Attorney General William Barr issued a statement expressing concern over the case, saying he was appalled and that Epstein’s death “raises serious questions that must be answered.”
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., used far starker language in a scathing letter to Barr.
“Every single person in the Justice Department — from your main Justice headquarters staff all the way to the night-shift jailer — knew that this man was a suicide risk, and that his dark secrets couldn’t be allowed to die with him," Sasse said.
"Given Epstein’s previous attempted suicide, he should have been locked in a padded room under unbroken, 24/7, constant surveillance. Obviously, heads must roll.”
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