To fengselsvoktere i New York har inngått en avtale med påtalemyndigheten om mild behandling mot å innrømme at de unnlot å sjekke Jeffrey Epstein hver halvtime. De sier de sov og surfet på internett.

Under the deferred prosecution agreement, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas will admit that they falsified records and will be sentenced to 100 hours of community service, according to a letter written by federal prosecutors Friday.

Prosecutors said that the pair browsed the internet and slept at their desks just 15 feet from Epstein’s cell instead of making their scheduled rounds every half-hour.

De to forfalsket rapportene og skrev at de hadde gått rundene og sjekket cellene slik reglementet tilsier.

Under the deal, Noel and Thomas «admitted that they ‘willfully and knowingly completed materially false count and round slips'» for the housing unit where they were assigned.

According to the original indictment, Thomas admitted to a supervisor that they «messed up» upon finding Epstein unresponsive, adding, «I messed up, she’s not to blame, we didn’t do any rounds.»

FILE – In this Nov. 25, 2019, file photo Tova Noel, center in yellow blouse, a federal jail guard responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself, leaves federal court in New York. The two Bureau of Prisons workers tasked with guarding Epstein the night he killed himself, Noel and Michael Thomas, have admitted they falsified records but will skirt any time behind bars under a deal with federal prosecutors, authorities said Friday, May 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

Epstein ble arrestert 9. juli 2019. Han ble funnet med tegn på kvelning rundt halsen 23. juli. Han tilbrakte en uke på sykehus og ble betraktet som en mulig selvmordskandidat. Likevel ble han plassert i en vanlig celle igjen 30. juli, sammen med en annen fange som hadde drept flere politi. Denne fangen ble flyttet 9. august, dagen før Epstein døde på cella. Dette var en spesialavdeling i fengslet for spesielle fanger.

The financier was housed in the facility’s Special Housing Unit, a heavily secured part of the Manhattan facility that separates high-profile inmates from the general population

Det blir en høring tirsdag hvor en dommer skal ta stilling til avtalen om mild behandling.

Jeffrey Epstein guards who slept the night of his suicide strike deal to avoid time behind bars 

Like etter Epsteins død snakket New York Post med en som hadde tilbrakt flere måneder i spesialavdelingen. Han uttalte seg anonymt. Han sa det var fysisk umulig å begå selvmord i cella. Alt som kunne brukes var fjernet, klærne, lakenene alt var av papir.

There’s no way that man could have killed himself. I’ve done too much time in those units. It’s an impossibility.

Between the floor and the ceiling is like eight or nine feet. There’s no way for you to connect to anything.

You have sheets, but they’re paper level, not strong enough. He was 200 pounds — it would never happen.

When you’re on suicide watch, they put you in this white smock, a straight jacket. They know a person cannot be injurious to themselves.

The clothing they give you is a jump-in uniform. Everything is a dark brown color.

Det ble sagt at Eptein hadde hengt seg i sengen. Men det går heller ikke an, sier den tidligere fangen.

Could he have done it from the bed? No sir. There’s a steel frame, but you can’t move it. There’s no light fixture. There’s no bars.

They don’t give you enough in there that could successfully create an instrument of death. You want to write a letter, they give you rubber pens and maybe once a week a piece of paper.

Nothing hard or made of metal.

Hvis du er på selvmordsovervåking blir du kontrollert hvert 9. minutt.

And there’s a cop at the door about every nine minutes, whether you’re on suicide watch or not.

Det er en spesiell avdeling, med spesielle fanger og voktere. Et «mørkt» sted på mer enn en måte.

The damage that unit can do to someone.

It’s like you’re an animal and you’ve been brought into a kennel. A guy like Jeffrey, it’s like, “Holy sh-t.”

I told my parents not to come there. God wasn’t in the building.

I’ve had some heavy incidents in the building. What happened is permanent.

Some of the guards are on a major power trip. They know guys there are suffering. They know something the rest of the world hasn’t seen, that a place like this exists in this country, and they get off on it.

If the guards see that the guy is breaking, they’re going to help you break.

But it’s my firm belief that Jeffrey Epstein did not commit suicide. It just didn’t happen.

There’s ‘no way’ Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, a former NYC jail inmate says