United States federal authorities said Thursday they will shut an embattled prison facility in New York City after a string of issues came to light after Jeffrey Epstein's suicide there in 2019.
The Bureau of Prisons said the Metropolitan Correctional Center will be temporarily closed to tackle problems that have long beset the facility, including loose security and deteriorating infrastructure.
Jail wardens found Epstein hanging in his cell two years ago while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Medical examiners ruled that Esptein died by way of suicide.
The MCC, which has housed inmates like Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, Mafia leader John Gotti, and several close associates of Osama bin Laden, currently has 233 prisoners, down from an average population of 600 or more.
The decision to shut the jail facility - billed as one of the most secure prisons in the U.S. - comes weeks after U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco visited it and saw the conditions firsthand.
The Department of Justice's inspector general has yet to conclude an inquiry into lapses that allowed the disgraced financier to commit suicide.
MCC has been marred by the rampant transmission of the coronavirus, complaints about squalid conditions, a smuggled gun, the death of an inmate, and a revolving door of wardens.
The facility has also drawn scrutiny for problems like sexual assault claims against jail officers and a weeklong power failure in January 2019.
Inmates and legal counsels have complained the prison facility was infested with rats and that inmates were forced to share dirty sinks and toilets that leaked urine and feces.
Earlier this year, an attorney claimed an inmate with the mental state of a child was left in a holding area for 24 hours while awaiting a competency assessment.
In May last year, a court-authorized inspection found prisoners with COVID-19 symptoms were not given any medical attention and some inmates sleeping on bunks almost two feet from each other.
Jack Donson, a former long-time official at the Bureau of Prisons, said considering all the corrective measures required, it could be years before the MCC reopens - if at all.
