By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI is investigating the death of billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he was found unresponsive due to an “apparent suicide” in a Manhattan jail.
The Justice Department’s Federal Bureau of Prisons indicated in a letter Saturday that the FBI was investigating.
Prison employees found Epstein unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and began “life-saving measures.” He was taken to a hospital “for treatment of life-threatening injuries, and subsequently pronounced dead by hospital staff,” the letter states.
Many questions have been raised about how Epstein could have committed suicide in a federal jail after he had been placed on “suicide watch” in late July, leading to mounting conspiracy theories. Jail officials told the New York Times that Epstein was taken off suicide watch a few days before his death.
When an inmate is taken off suicide watch, prison officials told several news outlets that the detainee is often placed in a cell with another inmate. Epstein was alone in his cell early Saturday morning.
Democrats immediately called for a congressional investigation.
“With the obvious end to criminal proceedings against Epstein, it is important that the House U.S. Committee on Oversight and Reform begin its investigation,” Rep. Louis Frankel tweeted.
Epstein was in jail awaiting trial after he had pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges. Dozens of girls had accused him of sexually abusing them.
On the day of his death, additional court documents revealed allegations that he sent an underage girl to meet and have sex with two former politicians as part of an alleged sex ring.
