Jeffrey Epstein was held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan after his July 2019 arrest. He was housed in the Special Housing Unit (SHU), which is designed for high-security or high-risk inmates.
The SHU and why it mattered: The Special Housing Unit is supposed to provide closer monitoring of inmates who present heightened risks — either to others, to themselves, or who are high-profile enough to warrant additional security. Epstein was classified as a pretrial detainee under enhanced monitoring.
Initial suicide watch: After an incident in late July 2019 in which Epstein was found with injuries consistent with either a suicide attempt or assault by his cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione, he was placed on suicide watch in the psychological observation unit. He was taken off suicide watch in early August and returned to the SHU with a cellmate.
The fatal night: Shortly before Epstein’s death, his cellmate was transferred to another unit, leaving him alone. This happened just 12–13 days after he had been taken off suicide watch.
Understaffing at MCC: The MCC was chronically understaffed. Guards regularly worked mandatory overtime shifts. On the night Epstein died, the two guards assigned to his unit were working their fourth consecutive overnight shift and were exhausted — one slept at his desk, the other browsed the internet. Both failed to make the mandatory checks every 30 minutes required by protocol.
The Justice Department’s Inspector General later produced a report detailing systemic failures at MCC that extended far beyond Epstein’s case.