Saturday, January 25, 2020

Warden who was in charge when Jeffrey Epstein died behind bars is quietly given a top job at 'Club Fed' prison - despite Bill Barr ordering him assigned to a lowly desk job

 



  • Lamine N'Diaye is being reassigned to a leadership role at FCI Fort Dix 
 
  • The low-security 'Club Fed' prison is in Burlington County, New Jersey 
 
  • N'Diaye was warden at MCC Manhattan when Epstein died in his cell there
 
  • AG Bill Barr ordered N'Diaye posted at a desk job until investigation is complete 
 
 
he warden in charge when Jeffrey Epstein died in his jail cell is getting a cushy new supervisor's job at 'Club Fed' despite Attorney General Bill Barr's demand that he be reassigned to a desk job.
 
Lamine N'Diaye is being reassigned to a leadership role at FCI Fort Dix, a low-security prison in Burlington County, New Jersey, two people familiar with the matter said.  
 
The move comes months after Barr ordered N'Diaye be reassigned to a desk post at the Bureau of Prisons' regional office in Pennsylvania after Epstein´s death as the FBI and the Justice Department´s inspector general investigated.
 
 
It was unclear why the agency was planning to return N'Diaye to a position supervising inmates and staff members, even though multiple investigations into Epstein´s death remain active. 
 
The inspector general's investigation is continuing, and the Justice Department is still probing the circumstances that led to Epstein´s death, including why he wasn´t given a cellmate.
 
Epstein died in August while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused dozens of girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
 
Epstein's death cast a spotlight on the Bureau of Prisons and highlighted a series of safety lapses inside a high-security unit of one of the most secure jails in America. 
 
His death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner, but his attorneys have contested that finding and argued he may have been killed. 
 
Barr said even Epstein's ability to take his own life in federal custody had raised 'serious questions that must be answered.' 
 
He said in an interview with the AP in November that the investigation revealed a 'series' of mistakes made that gave Epstein the chance to take his own life and that his death was the result of 'a perfect storm of screw-ups.'
 
Two correctional officers responsible for watching Epstein have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging they lied on prison records to make it seem as though they had checked on Epstein, as required, before his death. 
 
Instead, investigators say they appeared to sleep for two hours and had been browsing the internet - shopping for furniture and motorcycles - instead of watching Epstein, who was supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.
 
The attorney general also removed the agency´s acting director in the wake of Epstein's death and named Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the prison agency´s director from 1992 until 2003, to replace him.
Since Epstein´s death and N'Diaye´s removal as warden, the Manhattan jail has had two interim leaders. 
 
The newest warden, M. Licon-Vitale, used to oversee a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Her first big order of business has been to deal with jailed lawyer Michael Avenatti's complaints about his treatment at the lockup.
 
The Bureau of Prisons has been plagued for years by chronic violence, extensive staffing shortages and serious misconduct.
 
 
SOURCE
 
 
 

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