A second person familiar with operations at the jail said Epstein was discovered in his cell Saturday morning with a bedsheet around his neck. That person likewise spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason.
Attorney General William Barr said Monday that he was “frankly angry to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner.”
He added: “We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability.”
At the same time, Barr warned that any co-conspirator in the sex-crimes case against Epstein “should not rest easy. … The victims deserve justice, and they will get it.”
The 66-year-old Epstein was being held without bail, awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges that could have brought 45 years in prison.
Epstein had been placed on suicide watch after he was found in his cell a little over two weeks ago with bruises on his neck. But for reasons that have not been explained, he had been taken off that watch at the end of July and returned to the jail’s special housing unit.
