Attorney General William Barr has temporarily reassigned the warden at the federal prison in New York City where Jeffrey Epstein died in an apparent suicide on Saturday (August 10). Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said that Shirley Skipper-Scott would be reassigned to the bureau's Northeast Regional Office. The Justice Department also placed two staff members who were assigned to Epstein's unit at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on administrative leave.
Barr named James Petrucci, who is the warden at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York, as the acting warden.
The FBI and the Justice Department's inspector general have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death. On Monday, Barr said there were "serious irregularities" at the prison and that he was "appalled" with the staff's "failure to adequately secure this prisoner."
Epstein was taken off suicide watch, despite a failed attempted to take his own life a few weeks earlier. His cellmate was removed from the cell just hours before Epstein killed himself. It is unclear why the prisoner was taken out of the cell and why he was not replaced by another inmate.
Officials also failed to check in on Epstein for several hours, despite being required to check in on him every 30 minutes.
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