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.

Shifting Thanksgiving traditions reflect broader political, economic and cultural divides

Why Thanksgiving Is the One American Holiday the Left Can’t Stand

Days Before National Guardsmen Shot, Dem Senator Said Troops Deployed in Cities May Soon Fire on Civilians

Who is the DC National Guardsmen shooting suspect? What to know about Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal

Trump admin set to let protected status for 350,000 Haitian migrants expire in February

Parents Sue District After School Forced Daughter to Share Bed with ‘Trans’ Male Student on Trip

How the White House turkey pardon became an American tradition

California Democrats push pet projects despite $12 billion deficit blamed on Trump

Fox News ‘Antisemitism Exposed’ Newsletter: IDF finds huge Hamas terror tunnel under UN compound

Erika Kirk Signals Turning Point USA Is Prepared to Fully Support Vance in 2028

Congress investigates betting scandals rocking NBA and Major League Baseball following federal charges

Bodycam shows Charlotte train murder suspect’s interaction with police months before Iryna Zarutska stabbing

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

Alleged National Guard shooter worked with US government entities in Afghanistan, including CIA: Ratcliffe

Alleged DC shooter entered US under Afghan resettlement push Mayorkas vowed would be done ‘swiftly and safely’

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.