Jeffrey Epstein Case Update: 2 Prison Guards Will Be Charged In Wealthy Sex Offender's Suicide

Two guards working the night of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s death are expected to be charged in connection with his suicide.

According to the New York Times, two federal workers from the Bureau of Prisons had already been arrested in connection with Epstein’s death. The employees were expected to appear in the U.S. District Court in New York City’s Manhattan borough to be formally charged.

The charges would be the first to be brought in connection with Epstein’s suicide.

Epstein’s suicide has been under investigation since his body was discovered in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10. The two guards due in court were the two on duty the night of his death and had been subject to heavy criticism for allowing Epstein’s death. Both were scheduled to conduct rounds every 30-minutes, but were discovered to have fallen asleep for several hours while on duty.

The first guard was a man who had been reassigned and was not a full-time detention guard. However, he had received training as a guard until moving to another position. The second guard was a woman and full-time guard at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility.

American Federation of Government Employees, Council of Prison Locals President Eric Young also said Epstein’s death exposed greater labor problems in correctional facilities across the U.S. He called the situation “dire” and pointed to a hiring freeze on the Bureau of Prisons by President Trump has only exacerbated the problem.

“We felt betrayed,” Young told CNN. “Mr. President, we work for you. You say you're a law and order president and we thought we were going to reap the benefits of that, but we didn't.”

He explained further that chronic overworking and understaffing has been a consistent problem at federal prisons. This has contributed to higher levels of violence and more contraband filtering into prisons by inmates.

The two guards in custody were both working overtime shifts the night of Epstein’s death. One volunteered after working additional overtime shifts the same week while the other had been forced to work a 16-hour double shift.