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.

Father of 10-year-old boy breaks silence after viral beach rescue: ‘No way I could ever repay him’

Trump says he ‘disagrees 100%’ with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro over Reflecting Pool case

Assisted living sent resident to doctor’s appointment after giving him 18 shots, 5 am beer: officials

Mamdani extends deadline for NYC homeowners to seek exemption from new pied-à-terre tax

DSA candidate pushes federal AI data center moratorium with Michigan early voting underway

Trump immigration agenda faces setback as Obama-appointed judge issues fresh TPS stay

Israeli president says Palestinian peace ‘requires’ acceptance of Israel in warning against Mamdani

New Christian Persecution Report Shows Most Dangerous Countries on Earth for Believing in Jesus

Why Gen Z Is Breaking This Longtime Workplace Taboo

Reporter’s Notebook: Why Fauci’s 111 Fifth Amendment pleas could end up before the courts

Trump blasts rogue GOP senators for blocking Blanche nomination, vows anti-weaponization bill fight

Trump Says AI Data Centers Pledge Will Make Power Bills ‘Actually Come Down’

Parents Who Starved Their 75-Day-Old Baby to Death Will Get No Jail Time After Guilty Plea – Guess Who the Judge Is

Fauci’s Fifth fuels vow to haul him into court ‘every day’ despite Biden pardon

‘Like Graham Platner But Worse’: GOP Group Vows $42M Campaign Against Last-Minute Replacement Democrat

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.