Patterico's Pontifications

8/10/2019

ABC News: Jeffrey Epstein Commits Suicide

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:35 am



[guest post by Dana]

ABC News is reporting that three law enforcement officers have told them that Jeffrey Epstein died in an apparent suicide while in custody in Lower Manhattan:

Epstein hanged himself, law enforcement sources said. The exact timing was not immediately clear.

Epstein, 66, was set to stand trial next year for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of minor girls in New York and Florida.

His death came less than three weeks after he was found unresponsive in his cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, with marks on his neck that appeared to be self-inflicted, sources told ABC News.

He had been on suicide watch since the July 23 incident.

Epstein was facing up to 45 years in prison if he had been convicted of the charges of sex trafficking minors at his homes in New York and Florida.

While his criminal case is obviously over with, it is not yet known whether his associates or any of the high-profile individuals named in documents unsealed yesterday will be charged. However, it is thought that the civil cases might go forward now that the criminal case against Epstein is over.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

79 Responses to “ABC News: Jeffrey Epstein Commits Suicide”

  1. Two weeks ago Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he was found unconscious in his cell with marks on his neck. Yesterday documents were unsealed that named high-profile individuals involved with Epstein (exactly what this involvement entailed, we are not yet certain), and now he is dead. Curious.

    Dana (fdf131)

  2. My reaction as well, Dana. Those were some skilled suicide watchers there, wouldn’t you say?

    Matador (39e0cd)

  3. Babies sprout in cabbage patches too.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. They were on suicide watch, not on suicide prevent, apparently.

    kaf (8a536b)

  5. It makes me wonder how many are breathing a sigh of relief at the news, and how many are overwhelmed with frustration?

    Dana (fdf131)

  6. Is this where we say “and Hillary smiled” or is that only for those who see Putin under their beds?

    harkin (58d012)

  7. The evil amongst us continue to walk freely.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  8. That’s just great. Our justice system effed it up by giving him a sweetheart deal, and they effed it up again by not keeping the billionaire pedophile alive. Goddammit.

    Paul Montagu (35419a)

  9. And of course any forfeiture or other criminal penalties are moot now.

    Kevin M (18228f)

  10. Those were some skilled suicide watchers there, wouldn’t you say?

    I’d prefer the word “accomplished”.

    Kevin M (18228f)

  11. P.S. Those on the left, including that MSNBC dolt Scarborough, are saying, “Muh Russia” when it comes to Epstein.

    https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/1160184410588758018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1160184410588758018&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Facecomments.mu.nu%2F%3Fpost%3D382761

    Wonder why?

    NJRob (4d595c)

  12. Bill and Hillary selling their souls to the Devil; CONFIRMED AGAIN!

    Bugg (024e40)

  13. “Those were some skilled suicide watchers there, wouldn’t you say?”

    Good news, they now qualify as intrusion watchers on the border and assault watchers at colleges.
    __

    Btw – Security cameras are stuck in every corner of the world now but not in a suicide watch cell?

    harkin (58d012)

  14. officer assisted suicide

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  15. Already outdated…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  16. Assisted suicide, perhaps?

    Paul Montagu (35419a)

  17. “Who will rid me of this troublesome man?”

    Patricia (3363ec)

  18. “On the inquest it was shown that Buck Fanshaw, in the delirium of a wasting typhoid fever, had taken arsenic, shot himself through the body, cut his throat, and jumped out of a four-story window and broken his neck—and after due deliberation, the jury, sad and tearful, but with intelligence unblinded by its sorrow, brought in a verdict of death ‘by the visitation of God’.”

    nk (dbc370)

  19. Is prison food that bad?

    ‘Trump luck’- dead men tell no tales.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  20. Time for another cover-up.

    mg (8cbc69)

  21. No rip

    mg (8cbc69)

  22. It’s not clear whether Epstein was on suicide watch. He may even have had a roommate. But if he was alone and on suicide watch:

    Under Bureau of Prison regulations, the government’s jails and prisons must have one or more rooms designed for housing an inmate on suicide watch, and the rooms must allow staff members to control the inmate without comprising their ability to observe and protect him. Every prison facility is required to have a suicide prevention program.

    Suicide prevention cells must provide an “unobstructed view of the inmate” and “may not have fixtures or architectural features that would easily allow self-injury,” according to Bureau of Prisons policy.

    According to a person familiar with the Bureau of Prison’s procedures, the cells are equipped with video monitoring, which an officer monitors around the clock.

    DRJ (15874d)

  23. His roommate at one time was a police officer facing murder charges.

    DRJ (15874d)

  24. His roommate at one time was a police officer facing murder charges.

    Murder for hire by any chance?

    nk (dbc370)

  25. CNN is reporting that it is unclear whether or not he was still on suicide watch. They are also reporting that federal officials don’t think foul play was involved.

    Dana (fdf131)

  26. As the old line goes, ‘it’s Sinatra’s world; we just live in it.’

    Plutocrats ‘take care’ of their own.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  27. Per CNN: “No foul play is suspected.”

    Perhaps they really are ‘fake news.’

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  28. from the Fox story at the link:

    “…and the FBI is investigating, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Saturday.”

    Well, that instills confidence…

    Matador (39e0cd)

  29. NYC Correction Officials are seeking information about a large orange man with disheveled hair, wearing an unbuttoned blue suit coat, a white shirt, and an oversized red tie, last seen boarding a USMC helicopter, who was quoted as saying “Tell, Vlad, the threat has been neutralized.”

    Advocaat (45d1a6)

  30. Yet another report saying it was unclear whether he was on suicide watch. This from the New York Times:

    After an apparent attempt to take his own life three weeks ago, Jeffrey Epstein — the financier who was at the facility awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused dozens of underage girls — would have been a prime candidate.

    Yet Mr. Epstein, 66, hanged himself and his body was found in his cell early on Saturday, according to officials.

    It remained unclear if he had been placed on suicide watch after his first attempt at suicide on July 25, when he was found unconscious in his cell with bruises on his neck. The federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to requests for information.

    Mr. Epstein had been housed in a cell with Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer facing murder charges. It was unclear if he was still being held with another inmate as of Saturday morning.

    Dana (fdf131)

  31. Nicholas Tartaglione? “You know, ma’am, when you’ve killed four, it’s easy to make it five.”– Jason Robards to Claudia Cardinale, Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
    https://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2019/07/25/nicholas-tartaglione-timeline-events-quadruple-homicide-case/1825651001/

    nk (dbc370)

  32. Wow, when all the Russiagate conspirators were assuring us that “The SDNY will take care of it”, I didn’t think they meant THIS!

    SDNY Prison Warden (0a8399)

  33. officer assisted suicide

    I doubt it. My only reason is that if this was a second attempt. If it was homicide, the killers would have ensured the job was done right the first time.

    Kishnevi (f22b7e)

  34. That’s what they want you to think, kishnevi.

    nk (dbc370)

  35. They let Epstein out for an hour to shop at the Rope and Rickety Stool Boutique. WTH did they think was going to happen!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  36. From NPR:

    Attorney General William Barr has ordered an investigation into the death of Jeffrey Epstein.

    Barr said he “was appalled” to learn of Epstein’s death “from an apparent suicide while in federal custody.” He also said it “raises serious questions that must be answered.”

    Dana (fdf131)

  37. what I found interesting, was the times buried the story in the business section (re the deposition) and pointed did not mention the persons miss guiffre, pointed out,

    narciso (d1f714)

  38. I don’t give a damn about Epstein. He was going to die in prison anyway, so this was jus accelerating the process.

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1)

  39. This is a must-read op-ed which points out why questions must be asked in light of Epstein’s death. The author is a former U.S. Attorney and teaches law at UCLA.

    Epstein’s death almost certainly means that astounding blunders occurred, perhaps by multiple personnel at the Bureau of Prisons (BOP)…If any prisoner in the federal system should have been a candidate for suspicion of suicide, it was the high-profile and disgraced Epstein. All administrative and structural measures should have been in place to ensure it could not happen…MCC …is the very place to put a high-profile and potentially suicidal defendant such as Epstein…[I]f he were on suicide watch, his death would be virtually inconceivable…The BOP’s suicide prevention protocol entails… human eyes on the prisoner 24 hours a day…requires a strict deprivation of anything — shoelaces, sheets, pillowcases — that could possibly be used to hang oneself…requires disabling anything that could be used to tie a noose — vents, sprinkler heads, etc.

    Unfortunately, reports vary as to whether he was or was not on suicide watch at the time of his death.

    Anyway, read the whole thing as the author lays out the specific questions to be asked, and hopefully answered.

    Dana (fdf131)

  40. Republicans say clinton had it done and Democrats say it was trump. One is wrong.

    lany (b5970d)

  41. No, how about both are wrong.

    Dana (fdf131)

  42. I wondered how the victims might be feeling as they will no longer have their day in court with regard to the criminal trial. The Daily Mail published these comments from one of his victims:

    Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers have fumed that they won’t get the justice they deserve after he killed himself in prison on Saturday.

    Jena-Lisa Jones, Michelle Licata and Jennifer Araoz were among those who spoke out after his death was announced, while attorneys representing many of the women made statements on behalf of their angry clients.

    Araoz – who claimed she was a victim aged just 14 – stated: ‘I am angry Jeffrey Epstein won’t have to face his survivors of his abuse in court. We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed…

    ‘The pain and trauma he caused so many people. Epstein is gone, but justice must still be served. I hope the authorities will pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers, and ensure redress for his victims.’

    Jena-Lisa Jones, 30, said she was 14 in Florida, when she became a victim of Epstein. She said in a statement. ‘God will have his judgement now.’

    Michelle Licata, who claimed she was a victim in Florida at 16 years old said she didn’t want him dead.

    ‘I just wanted him to be held accountable for his actions. Simple as that,’ Licata said.

    Dana (fdf131)

  43. Breaking news two guards on suicide watch of epstein were told to leave for “maintenance!” 3 hours before he was found hanged. Donald trump to clintons he is sleeping with the fishes now! His woman procurer will unexpectedly commit suicide tomorrow.

    lany (b5970d)

  44. Goring was in prison and under heavy guard yet managed it– apparently w/help. Given the security at the NYC facilities, difficult to accept Epstein did this w/o help- or was offed intentionally. A lot of plutocrats are breathing easier now that he isn’t around to plea bargain information for reduced sentencing.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  45. “I don’t give a damn about Epstein. He was going to die in prison anyway, so this was jus accelerating the process.”

    Yes, why should any of us care what happens to a lone sex wolf who bought the island alone and trafficked all those underage girls there all by himself and spent all of his own money to keep something that he and he alone was responsible for covered up in the media.

    Today is the day to take the Radical Individualist position!

    SDNY Prison Warden (0f94ad)

  46. Well, it WAS “take out the trash night.”

    Kevin M (21ca15)

  47. Well, I am a radical individualist, in that I am a libertarian. I believe in freedom, which is the absence of tyranny, and in liberty, which is the protection of individual rights. However, I am not an anarchist. With freedom and liberty come responsibility. Every free man and woman has a responsibility to conduct themselves in a manner that comports with free men and women.

    That does mean allowing a sexual predator to roam free. He died in prison, as he would have ayway. So let’s just leave it at that. His procurer of sexual assault victims, both male and female, shoudh be brought to justice though.

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1)

  48. *does not* I abhor sexual predation in all its forms.

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1)

  49. I generally have low tolerance for conspiracy theories, but there are a hell of a lot of very powerful people who are probably satisfied with this result, which makes me wonder.

    Nic (896fdf)

  50. Sending in the three ring circus to investigate. lmmfao.

    mg (8cbc69)

  51. Deep State Fool Barr is outraged. So am I, you Sessions like hack. 81 days and nothing from you. The fbi and doj will never be taken seriously.

    mg (8cbc69)

  52. Rod Rosenstein weighs in, and he’s not complimentary to Barr.

    Pedophiles facing federal criminal charges are at high risk for suicide. It happened in several of my Maryland cases when defendants were released on bail. Detained pedophiles require special attention. Stopping people from harming themselves is difficult.
    https://t.co/YK4buPXmR9?amp=1

    And an ex federal warden is gobsmacked.

    Even before his first suspected suicide try last month, Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps the most vulnerable man in the federal jail system: a politically-connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. He was, by all accounts, the kind of inmate that should have been under the closest possible supervision.
    Instead, Epstein was taken off suicide watch in the days before he took his own life, officials told NBC News, a decision that baffled former wardens and veterans of the federal prison system.
    “For them to pull him off suicide watch is shocking,” Cameron Lindsay, a former warden who worked at three federal facilities, told NBC News. “For someone this high-profile, with these allegations and this many victims, who has had a suicide attempt in the last few weeks, you can take absolutely no chances. You leave him on suicide watch until he’s out of there.”

    Paul Montagu (35419a)

  53. Epstein would have been safer in his mansion.

    mg (8cbc69)

  54. NeverTrump Rod:

    “Pedophiles facing federal criminal charges are at high risk for suicide. It happened in several of my Maryland cases when defendants were released on bail. Detained pedophiles require special attention. Stopping people from harming themselves is difficult.”

    Common sense:

    BNL NEWS

    “@BreakingNLive
    7h7 hours ago
    More
    BREAKING NEWS: Jeffrey Epstein suicide apparently first suicide ever committed at MCC in New York”

    NeverTrumpGawain:

    “Well, I am a radical individualist, in that I am a libertarian.”

    Yes, well, let’s see what the record is of major libertarian publications when it comes to sex trafficking:

    https://i.imgur.com/zRExonq.png

    Aaaaaaaahhhh, I see. So when you say:

    “That does mean allowing a sexual predator to roam free. He died in prison, as he would have anyway. So let’s just leave it at that.”

    …it’s the equivalent of saying ‘we don’t have to worry about the cartels as long as we can arrest the individual drug dealers!’

    “His procurer of sexual assault victims, both male and female, shoudh be brought to justice though.”

    His procurer (Ghislaine Maxwell) was somehow never charged. And under an attitude of WE GOT THE ONE GUY WE NEEDED NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT HIS SUPPORT STRUCTURES OR HIS NETWORKS that’s likely to continue to be the case.

    SDNY Prison Warden (d7d435)

  55. Who made the decision to take Epstein off the suicide watch and what was the rationale?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  56. Barr’s investigation should answer those questions. But I presume the rationale* given will be he appeared to no longer be an imminent risk for suicide.

    *bear in mind that rationales can have no relationship to the actual reason.

    Kishnevi (2bcf76)

  57. I note that the newspapers of record are all reporting this as straight news, with none of the hostility or naive cynicism they apply to things that might hurt Trump.

    Kevin M (21ca15)

  58. Kind of the way they reported Benghazi was caused by a film, instead of a coordinated aq attack.

    Narciso (441918)

  59. “We only botched the suicide watch, we didn’t let him get m …mfff.”
    “Shut up, shut up, shut up! Don’t even say the m-word.”

    nk (dbc370)

  60. I think this is sad for everyone involved. It makes the prison system look bad, which makes the justice system look bad, too. It is sad for victims who wanted a chance for legal justice and closure. It may let other offenders avoid punishment, and Epstein has avoided punishment on earth if this was a suicide.

    DRJ (15874d)

  61. It erodes whatever faith people still have in the feds and feeds the narrative that they protect the rich and powerful to the detriment of the country.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  62. The American prison system is very, very, very bad, DRJ. It does not compare well even with the prison systems of Third World countries and totalitarian regimes, and it is a sin against God in a country like America.

    nk (dbc370)

  63. Really, as compared to belmarsh la sante, long kesh, not to mention places farther east, no el chapo probably had more opportunities to escape from el altiplano, which is in Beltran leyva territory.

    Narciso (441918)

  64. I think some people like the idea that prison hurts. It is part of the punishment. However, some prisons do seem too comfortable.

    And then there is the cost and the mechanics of running prisons. I think the movement to big bureaucratic prisons was an effort to get away from the way local Sheriffs ran their jails but big prisons aren’t much better, and there is little local ability to influence or change things.

    DRJ (15874d)

  65. And as someone noted, the Epstein flight logs are gone-only yoga and wedding data.

    Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e)

  66. An incompetent guard, incompetent supervisors, and an incompetent prison administrator. All going to get pensions no matter what. Its not impossible: like the golfing admiral and his staff on December 7, 1941.

    Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e)

  67. His roommate at one time was a police officer facing murder charges.
    DRH

    Holy crap…

    Yes, this is Third World type prison management. What next??

    Patricia (3363ec)

  68. Not a conspiracy nut, but a few minutes after I read about his suicide, a strange thought popped into my head. What if he isn’t dead? What if he started implicating a lot of high target individuals, and they staged his suicide to place him in witness protection?

    Sounds farfetched? Yeah, most likely. But what if?

    There are several different drugs that can place a person in a coma, or slow down their metabolism to the point that they appear dead. Also, foxnews had a picture of him in the ER, and for a person who was dead for an hour plus, it didn’t look like he was pallid enough. By all accounts, he was discovered at 6:30 a.m., and did not arrive at the hospital until 7:30 a.m. I have seen many dead people within an hour or two and they were already very pallid. I don’t know, could be a trick of lighting in the photo or ??????

    I don’t even think a 1 day rookie corrections officer would be stupid enough to remove a person from a suicide watch after they had already attempted it just a couple of weeks earlier. Something about this smells rotten!

    yoda jr. (7e7f21)

  69. Barr plans to seal these documents for a couple years and continue to get a democrat elected so the deep state can whitewash everything Barr. This doj is a turd factory.

    mg (8cbc69)

  70. Barr is Spanky’s lapdog, LOL.

    Dave (1bb933)

  71. Comrade, we could use a man,
    Like Lavrenti Beria, again.

    nk (dbc370)

  72. 57. Paul Montagu (35419a) — 8/10/2019 @ 4:06 pm

    Epstein was taken off suicide watch in the days before he took his own life, officials told NBC News,

    There were apparently conflicting stories told about that.

    One version, probably the first version leaked, was that he was taken off suicide watch on Thursday (August 8) Another version, probably the truth, says that he was taken off suicide watch on Monday, July 29. This was less than a week wafter he was put on it, which was July 23.

    The New York Post has an article today quoting an anonymous ex-inmate at the Metropolitan Correction Facility. They say he spent several months in the jail’s 9 South section, which is a special section for high profile prisoners awaiting trial. (not the most secure) He was young enough so as to tell his parents not to visit him. They put everything into his own words.

    He says:

    1) When someone is put on suicide watch there, they put him a straightjacket or something like a straighjacket (a white smock) (The Daily News says they wear a hospital style gown)

    Note: If that is the case they would want to end it sooner. It occurs to me that took much security actually makes it likely to end sooner. It probably also a lot of work for the guards.

    2) Jeffrey Epstein should not have been able to commit suicide on his own. The ceiling is about 8 or 9 feet high. The bedsheets are not strong enough. Their strength is paper-level and Jeffrey Epstein weighed 200 pounds. There is no metal in the cell. There’s no bars. There’s no light fixture. There is the bed, and the bed is a steel frame, but you can’t move it. When they want to write they give them rubber pens. And maybe a piece of paper once a week.

    3) The whole experience is like being a dog in a kennel. Some of the guards are on a power trip.

    Another article seems to indicate that procedures for removing someone from suicide watch were probably not followed. (because it lays out something about them.)

    There are maybe 80 men (in the section here Epstein was?) About 765 men are in the jail altogether.

    El Chapo, Bernard Madoff and “Ramzi Youssef” were held in 10 South, which is a solitary confinement section for high risk inmates. (Where was Epstein? The Daily News says he was held in the same section as was AEl Chapo))

    The last suicide there, according to a search of published stories, was that of “South Philadelphia drug kingpin Louis Turra,” who hanged himself, but there were several unsuccessful attemts.

    Lewis Kasman, once close to John Gotti, is quoted as saying: “That facility for years has had issues of corruption, with correction officers bringing in food or cellphones for wealthy people.’ And says of John Gotti: “He had Peter Lugar’s [steaks delivered] whenever he wanted.”

    And Kasman said he heard that Attoreney General William Barr paid a visit to the jail two weeks ago (about the time Epstein was found with bruises around his neck.)

    If true, that woold make Barr really angry. Barr said in a statement. “I was appalled to learn tat Jeffrey Epstein was found dead early [this moening?] from an apparentt suicide while in federal custody. Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered.”

    He’s called in the Inspector General. Of course, that doesn’t always help. One time the Inspector general for the Secret Service was caught in a whitewash of soe sort and allowed to retire.

    And of course, I also remember the murder of Whitey Bulger which didn’t happen long ago.

    Sammy Finkelman (d41c9f)


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