Interesting legal angle (from a comment on that thread):
The reason is that Epstein was the only person who had legal standing to sue the investigators trying to comb through the evidence in his mansions and penthouses, including videotapes of young girls and documents that may mention the names of people who were at his properties on specific dates. Had Epstein lived, and made it to trial, his attorneys could have filed motions to throw out that evidence. Now, however, no one has standing to put the brakes on the investigation.
Prison social dynamics are a bit more complicated than that (caveat: federal prisons). True, sex offenders are only one step above snitches but most are left alone; they tend to form their own groups and keep to themselves. There is very little actual violence against them because they end up in low security prisons with non-violent offenders (drug dealers, white collar criminals, Amish men who cut off other Amish men’s beards (look it up)).
That said, some sex offenders who are “notorious” in committing actual rapes of minors do tend to be harshly treated and usually end up in protective custody (solitary, or the SHU). I have little doubt Epstein would have been beaten, more than once, although his money would have bought a fair amount of protection. Not from the guards, but if payments were arranged to other inmates’ family members or deposited directly into their commissary accounts, Epstein would have stood a good chance of being left alone, as well.
All speculation, of course, since he’s dead.
Expect Barr to shut down the Epstein investigation now based on some thin legal premise.
Expect Dershowitz to back up the premise.
And expect it to legitimately grind to a halt, because there is no justice in the world. We have peeked behind the curtain at the Wizards pulling the levers of power, and they know we know now. But it doesn’t matter, because they have the power and we don’t.
Epstein was placed on suicide watch last month but then taken off within about a week, a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post.
Did he off himself? I think so.
But… what’s the easiest way to kill a suicidal person? Look the other way.
So what was Barr doing on the Epstein case anyway?
He had a personal connection/conflict of interest with Epstein and tried to recuse himself.
Trump refused to let him do it.
So why was Barr risking disbarment when a subordinate would have been able to do the job?
I’m leaning that direction myself. The more complicated a conspiracy theory is the less likely anyone could pull it off without getting caught.
If going from “well-connected billionaire hedonist” to “universally reviled pedophile sex trafficker facing life in prison for crimes beyond counting” isn’t enough to turn someone suicidal then what is?
Whether he was really fantastically rich or not it seems pretty evident that he wasn’t going to find a way to get any semblance of his old life back. Or his freedom. Or whoever passed for friends and family. I can’t imagine looking forward to whatever life awaited him even if he did have a fat wad of cash in the bank.
Yeah, but remember, for so many of these guys the worst thing in the world is having the rest of the world find out they were poor. Not being poor, but having the image fall apart. Especially if – at some level – they buy into it, too.
There are a lot of reasons for this to be exactly what it looks like: a suicide under the standard fuck-up conditions of the US penal system. No conspiracy theories required.
I just read the book that the show Orange is the New Black is based on. MCC (which sort of shows up in the show as the private corporation that buys the prison where the show is set) was described by several of the inmates that the real Piper Kerman met while incarcerated. They described it as pretty horrific.
Those living with mental illness are not ”crying for attention”. Writing off suicide attempts as ”no big deal” is how the rate of suicide having shot up alarmingly gets glossed over online.
Please have respect for others instead of generalizing a tragic and devastating act as attention-seeking behaviour.
If you disbelieve the suicide situation in this case, fine. Don’t disparage entire groups of people based on your anecdotal observations, please.
