AP Sources: Epstein Jail Guards Had Been Offered Plea Deal

Federal prosecutors offered a plea deal to two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein on the night of his death, but the officers have declined the offer, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.The existence of the plea offer signals the Justice Department is considering criminal charges in connection with the wealthy financier’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August. The city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.

The guards on Epstein’s unit are suspected of failing to check on him every half hour, as required, and of fabricating log entries to show they had. As part of the proposed plea deal, prosecutors wanted the guards to admit they falsified the prison records, according to the people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss the investigation.

Revealing Detail Found Buried in ‘Ilhan Omar’ Memoir: She Was Taught at a Young Age to Lie About Her Family

Tech Titan Blasted for Using AI to Come up With 3 Things That Makes Her Daughter Special on Her 10th Birthday

Wyoming mom reported missing after not picking up kids; sister, police search for answers

Watch: YouTuber Separates Conjoined Turtle Twins, Ends with ‘Heartbreaking’ Result

Cops raid West Virginia frat houses in hazing probe as growing crackdown should be ‘wake-up call’: expert

Unexpected State with Dem Governor Is Ranked the Freest in America: Study

Americans forced to change clocks again as Senate stalls Trump-backed daylight saving time bill

Everything to know about House and Senate control, ballot measures and 2026 Election Day poll closing

Future of MAHA and anti-abortion policy hinges on Roger Marshall’s election chances

‘Free Instacart for Welfare Queens’: California Begins Sending Out Luxury Food Boxes at Taxpayers’ Expense

California Mayor Allegedly Followed, Harassed, Blocked Car of Random Man She Thought Was ICE

Chuck Klosterman’s ‘Rock*’ is an exercise in fantastical pointlessness

Skilled trades now offer direct path to six-figure pay without college debt thanks to emerging tech industry

A look inside the Somali mall where Omar reappeared after DC raid raises more failed assimilation concerns

NYC woman critically injured after being stabbed multiple times while jogging along Brooklyn waterfront

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan had no comment on the plea offer. Both guards were working overtime because of staffing shortages. They have been placed on administrative leave while the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general investigate the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. The 66-year-old had been awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls. Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he was found on his cell floor July 23 with bruises on his neck. Multiple people familiar with operations at the jail have said Epstein was then taken off suicide watch about a week before his death, meaning he was less closely monitored but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

Epstein’s death exposed mounting evidence that the chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center may have bungled its responsibility to keep him alive. Guards often work overtime day after day, and other employees are pressed into service as correctional officers. Falsification of records has been a problem throughout the federal prison system. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who was named director of the Bureau of Prisons after Epstein’s death, disclosed in a Nov. 4 internal memo that a review of operations across the agency found some staff members failed to perform required rounds and inmate counts but logged that they had done so anyway. “Falsification of information in government systems and documents is also a violation of policy, and may be subject to criminal prosecution as well,” Hawk Sawyer wrote in the memo to top prison officials, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.