Barr’s Initial Public Response
Attorney General William Barr was traveling when Jeffrey Epstein was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on the morning of August 10, 2019. Barr cut short his trip and returned to Washington. In his first public statement, Barr said he was “appalled” and “frankly angry” upon learning of Epstein’s death, which he described as a “perfect storm of screw-ups.” He declared that the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General would conduct a full review and that the FBI had opened a parallel criminal investigation into the circumstances.
Barr’s early comments were notable in that he simultaneously expressed skepticism about any conspiracy while pledging thoroughness: he stated he had seen “strong evidence” that Epstein had taken his own life, but that the investigation would proceed regardless.
The Conflict of Interest Question
Central to public scrutiny of Barr’s oversight was a significant conflict of interest: Barr had previously been a partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, which had represented Jeffrey Epstein during the 2008 plea deal negotiations in Florida. Two of the attorneys most directly involved in the NPA — Jay Lefkowitz and other Kirkland partners — were former colleagues of Barr’s.
Critics called on Barr to recuse himself from any oversight of Epstein-related matters. The DOJ declined to formally recuse him, noting that his role was supervisory rather than investigative. Senate Judiciary Committee members wrote to Barr requesting that he address the conflict, particularly in relation to the DOJ IG’s NPA review.
The DOJ Inspector General Investigation
Inspector General Michael Horowitz launched a review covering two distinct but related matters:
- The circumstances of Epstein’s death: Including the failures of the two MCC guards on duty, the removal of Epstein from suicide watch, the broken cell camera equipment, and the inadequacy of inmate checking protocols.
- The 2008 NPA and DOJ compliance: A broader review of whether DOJ procedures, including victim notification requirements under federal law, had been followed when the NPA was negotiated and executed.
Key Findings on MCC Failures
The OIG released findings confirming serious systemic failures at MCC. Both guards on duty the night of Epstein’s death had falsified prison logs — claiming to have checked on Epstein every 30 minutes when surveillance footage showed they had not done so. The guards spent time sleeping and browsing the internet. Epstein had been removed from suicide watch weeks before his death despite having been found unresponsive in his cell on July 23, 2019 in circumstances that remained disputed.
Findings on the 2008 NPA
The IG’s NPA review, released in 2020, found that DOJ prosecutors had not complied with the Justice Manual’s requirements for conferring with crime victims before entering into the agreement. This directly contradicted the public defense offered by Acosta. The report stopped short of recommending criminal charges and noted that the statutory framework at the time was ambiguous on victim consultation requirements.
Personnel Actions
Following the investigation, BOP Director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer was removed from her role overseeing MCC New York. Multiple senior administrators at MCC were placed on administrative leave. Guards Tova Noel and Michael Thomas were criminally charged with lying to federal investigators, though their cases were ultimately resolved through deferred prosecution agreements.
State of the Record
Barr’s review never produced a full public accounting of BOP management failures beyond individual personnel actions. Critics noted that the structural problems at MCC — chronic understaffing, mandatory overtime, aging infrastructure — were not addressed in a comprehensive reform package, leaving the systemic questions raised by Epstein’s death largely unresolved.