Jeffrey Epstein: child predator, friend to high society and government, a man of wealth and privilege; is dead. Sometime on Sunday morning before 6:30 am, he died in a cell in one of America’s most notorious prisons, the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan, New York.
Down at the MCC
The MCC is one of the Federal system’s best-known prisons. 911 mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammad, complained the MCC was worse than Guantanamo. Mafioso John Gotti and Mexican drug lord El Chappo both said the conditions, particularly the isolation, were near intolerable. And all of these men were being held for trial, theoretically “presumed innocent:” just like Jeffrey Epstein.
Did Epstein manage to commit suicide? Certainly most Americans would understand why he would; he was accused of recruiting young girls to “service” himself and his friends. If convicted, he would never see his New Mexico ranch or Caribbean island getaway again. The inside of a prison cell would be his lifetime view.
But Jeffrey Epstein was connected to some of the most powerful people in the nation. The current President, a former President, the former Governor of New Mexico, a Prince of the United Kingdom, a prominent law professor at Harvard, the richest man in Columbus, Ohio; all were “friends” or “former friends” of the shadowy finance guy. If you have a conspiratorial bone in your body, Epstein’s death raises your suspicions.
Suicide Watch
So what happened to Epstein in that cell in the MCC?
The current theory is that he managed to hang himself in his cell; completing the suicidal act he started a couple of weeks ago. Then, he was in a different cell, one with a cellmate, when he was found curled on the floor, unconscious, with marks around his throat. The MCC revived him and placed him on suicide watch.
Suicide watch makes a prison even worse. No sheets, no belts, no shoelaces, no cellmate, a cell with no way to tie off a makeshift rope. The prisoner is watched twenty-four hours a day, and is evaluated twice a day to determine suicidal status. It not only is tough on the prisoner, it’s expensive. The MCC is already faced with a guard shortage; present employees routinely work 16-hour shifts. The cost of keeping one guard eyeing one prisoner is exorbitant. The financial pressure is to get a prisoner off of “watch” to cut the costs.
So perhaps the MCC did the expedient thing: they judged Epstein safe and left him alone. They put him on an “every 30 minute” watch, giving him plenty of time to create a makeshift rope and find a way to tie it. They found him hanging in his cell; he died despite attempts to revive him.
Conspiracy Theory 1
It just seems so unlikely. The highest profile prisoner in the United States, perhaps the world, who already tried to kill himself: and they left him alone. Epstein has always has “a way” with people. Les Wexner, the billionaire founder of Limited Brands, gave Epstein unlimited access to his fortune. In return, Epstein made Wexner an even greater fortune, and managed to steal about $40 million along the way. And the guards in Palm Beach, turned themselves into Epstein “security detail” while he was serving a thirteen month solicitation sentence. He went to his office every day, and at night the door to his cell was left unlocked.
Epstein had a way of influencing people. Perhaps he influenced the guards, or the psychiatrist at the MCC. Maybe it was just bribery, but more likely, it was the “Epstein guile” that served him so well in life. Maybe they just fell for it.
Conspiracy Theory 2
Or maybe Epstein represented a threat so great to so many important people; that the guards were influenced to turn away and let him die. Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew, Dershowitz, Richardson, and how many others were implicated in Epstein’s sex scandal. How “nice” for all of them that he just “went away” with all of his memories. For those on the list who were innocent, now they have no way to prove it. And, perhaps more importantly, for those who enjoyed Epstein’s perversions, now it’s harder to be implicated.
It will make a great movie someday, whether it’s true or not. How the rich and powerful managed to “seal off” this access to their sordid lives. Whether Epstein did it himself, or whether he was assassinated, it will be a blockbuster.
Justice
The sad part about Epstein’s death is that it makes it unlikely that there will ever be justice, or closure, for those young girls. They were lured by money, power, and fame to Epstein’s homes, then pushed to become sex objects. They were kids, dragged into a dirty adult world of massages turned into orgasms. There is little chance of retribution, or of a world saying to them: even the powerful shouldn’t get away with what he did. That’s the only sadness in Epstein’s death; the victims lose their chance at vindication.
However Epstein died, we can only hope that the investigation doesn’t die with him. There are plenty of “co-conspirators” to go around, even if they are rich and powerful. They believed their power gave them the right to commit crimes. Justice demands that we call them to the bar for their actions.
