DOJ Files Detail Guard's Actions Night of Epstein Death

Newly released U.S. Department of Justice documents have revealed suspicious activities by a prison guard on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein died in a New York City federal jail, reigniting questions about the circumstances of his death.

Epstein, a financier awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019. Correctional officers discovered him at around 6:30 a.m. in cardiac arrest, and he was pronounced dead at a hospital later that morning at age 66. The New York City chief medical examiner ruled the death a suicide by hanging, a conclusion supported by a subsequent Department of Justice investigation. Epstein had used strips of orange cloth from bed linens to hang himself, according to officials.

The documents, part of files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, detail actions by Tova Noel, one of two guards assigned to monitor Epstein that night. Noel and her colleague, Michael Thomas, were responsible for checking on inmates every 30 minutes in the Special Housing Unit. Instead, surveillance footage showed no checks occurred for about eight hours, from 10:30 p.m. until...