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.

Congressional baseball game offers longstanding traditions, and plenty of confusion

11 skydivers, one pilot killed in Missouri plane crash near airport

Sen Mitch McConnell hospitalized, ‘receiving excellent care,’ his office says

Republican leaders embrace viral World Cup fans they say are discovering the ‘real America’

Gabbard says declassified biolab records validate concerns previously dismissed as misinformation

Another One: German Woman Beheaded, Homeless African Male Arrested for Murder Earlier in 2026

Is AI Making Your Kids Dumber? Over Half of Teachers Surveyed Say It May Be

Spy Agencies Have Exploded in Size – Trump’s Intel Chiefs Are the First to Downsize

Evil Among Us: Black Magic Suspected After Cameras Capture Goat Being Dragged Into Office Building, Then More Chilling Pics Found Online

From Wasserman Schultz to Goldman, Democratic incumbents are fighting for survival

WATCH: Chinese Clown Robot Nails Innocent Child – Some Say Video Is Sign of Dystopian Nightmare

You Won’t Believe What Novelty Item This Blue-County Councilman Wants to Ban

These 11 upcoming Supreme Court decisions could make or break Trump’s second term agenda

Secret evidence filed in Anna Kepner Carnival cruise murder case as feds push to jail accused stepbrother

Chinese Spies May Be Stalking You on Your Job Hunt

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.