Suspended Sentence Prison Sicdes Negligence Or
The average law-abiding American has never been inside a prison, except maybe as a visitor. The reality is that not all inmates are completely evil, and not all correction officers are good guys…
By Egon E. Mosum
The average law-abiding American has never been inside a prison, except maybe as a visitor.
He has no idea about what goes on under the rock, and what kind of creatures may be found therein.
The reality is that not all inmates are completely evil, and not all correction officers are good guys.
The author knows that reality, having been a frequent legal visitor in several different Federal Correctional Institutions, in his capacity as a New York attorney in a life before becoming a columnist.
Some correction officers are military veterans, and after discharge looked for well-paying secure work, where the atmosphere may be oppressive, but at least nobody is trying to kill them — most of the time.
Some correction officers are lazy and are just there for the overtime, the benefits, and the chance to boss inmates around to fulfill their own ego needs.
Why this opening?
Because negligence and cover-ups are real in the prison system, and are not infrequent, and that combination can make for an inmate s*ic*de that should not have happened, or a pseudo-s*ic*de where someone else k*lled the inmate, but it was covered up.
‘Mass incarceration poses a threat to public health with nearly 2 million individuals incarcerated in our country’s jails and prisons today. S*ic*de is one of the leading causes of death in our country’s prisons, despite the incarcerated population being under high surveillance.’ [1]
If you think that these events take place after an inmate has suffered years of incarceration, think again, because ‘Most jail s*ic*des occur within a month of admission, and more than 1 in 10 occur within one day.’[2]
Anybody who has visited a prison knows the extreme security measures put in place, knows the sounds of clanking metal doors being electronically locked, knows the barbed wire surrounding the prison walls.
They know the close presence of the guards who are supposed to be ever vigilant, but not always are, because in 2019 alone, ‘three hundred and eleven inmates of state and federal prisons in the United States died by s*ic*de.’[3]
Or at least the deaths were determined to be s*ic*de, but not every ligature around an inmate’s next was a voluntary act of the inmate.
An example of one of those 2019 ‘s*ic*des’ that has recently surfaced again in today’s headlines, is that of Jeffrey Epstein — friend of the rich, pal of our current President, and convicted pedophile.
He was housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, New York beginning on July 6, 2019. He was found dead in his cell in the Special Housing Unit — the SHU — on August 10, 2019, so he just made it past that one-month time period when most jail s*ic*des occur.
Let’s look at what is contained in that piece of creative writing which is the Office of the Inspector General report regarding the Epstein matter.
Theoretically, ‘According to its website, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)’s current mission statement is “Corrections professionals who foster a humane and secure environment and ensure public safety by preparing individuals for successful reentry into our communities.’[4]
Yeah, right.
The report makes reference to the standard operating procedure that should be followed; ‘BOP (Bureau of Prisons) policy requires SHU staff to observe all inmates at least twice an hour and that Lieutenants conduct at least one round in the SHU each shift. BOP policy also requires multiple inmate counts during every 24-hour period.’[5]
Guess what — ‘Only one SHU cell search was documented on August 9, and it was not of Epstein’s cell. BOP records did not indicate when Epstein’s cell was last searched. The OIG also found that SHU staff did not conduct any 30-minute rounds after about 10:40 p.m. on August 9 and that none of the required SHU inmate counts were conducted after 4 p.m. on August 9. Count slips and round sheets were falsified to show that they had been performed.’[6]
What happened to those who falsified the records?
‘Two MCC New York employees, Noel and Thomas, were charged criminally with falsifying BOP records. The charges were later dismissed after they successfully fulfilled deferred prosecution agreements. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined prosecution for other MCC New York employees who the OIG found created false documentation.’[7]
An autopsy on Epstein’s body was performed and ‘The Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy told the OIG that Epstein’s injuries were consistent with s*ic*de by hanging and that there was no evidence of defensive wounds that would be expected if his death had been a homicide.’[8]
Differences of opinion are necessary for horse races and stock markets, but when they appear regarding autopsies and causes of death, we should stand up and take notice.
Dr. Michael Baden, a pathologist who was hired by the Epstein family reported ‘the evidence (from the autopsy),points to homicide rather than suicide in Epstein's death because of three fractures of Epstein's hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage, injuries he says are more indicative of homicidal strangulation than s*ic*de.[9]
The Federal authorities reviewed the videotape of the SHU on the night of Epstein’s death, and concluded that no one entered Epstein’s cell on the night of his supposed s*ic*de.
However, a CBS report found in ‘its review of the footage, which is 11 hours long, that it provides little evidence to support claims made by federal officials that anyone who entered the area where Epstein was held would have been seen on camera.’[10]
Was that video complete?
‘The government stated that the digital video recording system failed on August 9-10, 2019 — the night Epstein died— resulting in the loss of most of the footage that would have provided a more well-rounded view of the scene.’[11]
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Obviously in the case of Jeffrey Epstein there are a lot of questions to be answered.
A high-profile defendant with the ‘goods’ on many rich and powerful people, including politicians. A defendant who had a lot to trade with the prosecution for a light sentence winds up a s*ic*de in a prison after a little more than a month since his incarceration.
A situation where, concerning the facts and circumstances of the incident, there are falsified reports, malfunctioning cameras, and an autopsy report that is in conflict between government and private pathologists as to suicide or possible homicide.
A person with the vision of Mr. Magoo can see that if this isn’t a cover up, it will serve as one until the real thing comes along.
But what about the cases when it isn’t a high-profile defendant, when it is just some inmate looking to use a strip of ripped cloth to get his ‘get out of jail’ card the hard way.
What about the competency and sense of duty of the guards paid rather well to prevent him from getting a ‘suspended’ sentence?
Here’s an answer from a New York Prison that might answer the question:
‘New York City has agreed to pay more than $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, who suffered severe brain damage after he attempted to hang himself in a Rikers Island jail cell as more than half a dozen correction officers stood by.’[12]
They watched the show for almost eight minutes.
There is a myth that most prisons are ‘country clubs.’ They are not. There is a myth that all correction officers are good guys. They are not — not all.
The reader may not care about what happens to inmates, until either they, or someone they care about becomes one, because it is important to remember, not every inmate was a drug dealer or a pervert or a violent criminal.
Some ran afoul of some law that caused them to be incarcerated, and even if for only a short time, that inmate has his best chance of self-cancellation within the first month of being behind bars.
Feliciano wound up brain damaged in 2019, Epstein wound up dead in prison in 2019, and as was stated above, in that same year, in state and federal prisons three hundred and eleven inmate s*ic*des were recorded.
Something is rotten in the state of incarceration, in a country that has the highest per capita percentage of its population in prison in the world.
That’s something you should care about.
[1] Suicide mortality among individuals in federal prisons compared with the general population: a retrospective cohort study in the USA from 2009 to 2020 LeMasters et. al. 1/10/24 BMJ PUBLIC HEALTH https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/bmjph/2/1/e000544.full.pdf
[2] PRISON POLICY INITIATIVE https://www.prisonpolicy.org/visuals/mortality.html
[3] STATISTA https://www.statista.com/statistics/220919/number-of-state-prisoner-suicides-in-the-us/
[4] OIG 2023 REPORT https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
[5] IBID.
[6] IBID.
[7] IBID.
[8] IBID.
[9] Expert Hired By His Family Suggests Doubt On Suicide Finding Wamsley, 10/30/19 NPR https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774838950/jeffrey-epstein-case-expert-hired-by-his-family-suggests-doubt-on-suicide-findin
[10] CBS News investigation claims to find discrepancies in FBI Epstein jail video Goodman, 7/31/25 Global News https://globalnews.ca/news/11311278/jeffrey-epstein-jail-video-cbs-news-investigation/
[11] IBID.
[12] New York City Set to Pay a Record $28 Million to Settle Rikers Island Suit Ransom & Tiefenthaler 4/6/24 NEW YORK TIMES https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/nyregion/nyc-rikers-negligence-lawsuit.html
