Jeffrey Epstein – Murder or Suicide? His Prison Psychiatrist May Hold the Key

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW 

Jeffrey Epstein was holding the bag for some of the most powerful billionaires and politicians in the world. He provided such men with underage girls upon which they could act on their pedophic sexual fantasies. For decades he got away with it, protected as he was by these rich and powerful men.

But his luck ran out when the voices of victimized women finally pricked the conscience of the nation and the world. Epstein was arrested and soon placed in the secure federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York to await trial. Would he name names and expose his clients? Would he take the fall and spend the rest of his life in prison for his despicable crimes? Or would he die and take his secrets to the grave?

Then on July 23, 2019, Epstein was found unconscious in his cell. Prison officials didn’t report it to the public until July 25th when they sent out an email. This is from the New York Times:

     “A week after being denied bail, Jeffrey E. Epstein was found unconscious in his cell on Tuesday at a federal jail in Manhattan with marks on his neck, and prison officials were investigating the incident as a possible suicide attempt, a law enforcement official who had been briefed on the matter said.”
     “Prison officials had not ruled out the possibility, however, that Mr. Epstein had been assaulted by another inmate or had staged the incident, a person with knowledge of the investigation said… Mr. Epstein’s injuries were not serious, the law enforcement official said… The Bureau of Prisons, in an email on Thursday morning, gave no details about the incident, citing “privacy and security reasons.”

Afterwards, Epstein was placed on suicide watch. By protocol, there was supposed to be another inmate in his cell, but he was alone. If he realized he was at risk, or was planning his suicide and wanted to make a jailhouse confession, he was denied that chance.

A subsequent mental health evaluation was conducted that determined Epstein was not a suicide risk. He was taken off of suicide watch, which means he was to be checked by guards every 30 minutes instead of every 10 minutes.

Then just 18 days after the first time he was found unconscious in his cell, Epstein was again found unconscious in his cell, but this time he was dead. It looked like he hanged himself.

Because Epstein was the most high-profile inmate in the United States, and because the Metropolitian Correction Center is directly under the control of the US Justice Department, the FBI were called in to investigate. It violates a prisoner’s privacy rights to have cameras in their cell, but there were two cameras outside of Epstein’s cell. They didn’t work and the guards who were supposed to check on Epstein both fell asleep. This is from Reuters:

“Two cameras that malfunctioned outside the jail cell where financier Jeffrey Epstein died as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges have been sent to an FBI crime lab for examination… The two cameras were within view of the Manhattan jail cell where he was found dead on Aug. 10. A source earlier told Reuters two jail guards failed to follow a procedure overnight to make separate checks on all prisoners every 30 minutes.”

While the FBI is focused on the camera, I’m focused on the psychiatrist whose evaluation said Epstein wasn’t a suicide risk. The shrink either:

1) got it right,
2) blew it big time, or
3) was complicit in some way.

If #1 above is true, Epstein’s first incident couldn’t have been a suicide attempt, but an assault and possibly a failed murder attempt. With all factors at play, the high-stakes involved and the fact that research shows a high rate of suicide for men facing such charges, erring on the side of caution to extend the suicide watch should have been an easy call. A competent psychiatrist determining that he wasn’t suicidal would be a courageous and confident finding that should have sent a message that the prisoner was possibly under external threats.

Which is why #2 is a big deal. If Epstein really did just try to kill himself just 18 days earlier, given all the other factors in this case, extending the suicide watch should have been a no-brained. You would have to be grossly incompetent to have determined he was no longer a suicide risk after such a short period of time since his last attempt, especially since he received no treatment.

That leaves #3, that the psychiatrist was in some way a part of an assassination conspiracy. Calling off the suicide watch protocol would be a necessary step if you were planning a homicide.

Only gross incompetence by the psychiatrist supports the whole suicide theory. It should be easy enough to look at the doctor’s assessment skills, history and conduct in this case. And if it turns out Jeffery Epstein really wasn’t suicidal, then murder is the only motive left to consider.