Jeffrey Epstein’s death has been ruled as suicide, as a New York City medical examiner said on Friday that the autopsy of the disgraced American sex trafficker of minor, showed that the cause of death was suicide by hanging.
Jeffrey Epstein’s death came as a shock to many, and at the same time, not many were surprised that he took his own life inside his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan six days ago, while still under criminal investigation for sex trafficking of minors.
Epstein’s guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan who were tasked with keeping an eye on him were alleged to have left him on the night he hanged himself in his cell.
New York Times reported that the guards were supposed to check on him every 30 minutes but did not on the night before he was found dead.
The report also said that the jail transferred Epstein’s cellmate, leaving him to be house alone, just two weeks after he had been taken off suicide watch. That move is in violation of the jail’s normal procedure.
The Times also said that the prison was understaffed and that two guards who were on duty in the special housing unit where Epstein was being kept were both working overtime, one of whom was on his fifth straight day of overtime.
The Justice Department and the FBI are investigating the circumstances leading up to Epstein’s death.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan was already facing criticism for taking Epstein off of suicide watch after he was found in his cell on July 23 with injuries that appeared to point to a suicide attempt.