[FoxNews] Federal investigators found a loaded gun Thursday that had been smuggled into the jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself last summer, following a weeklong lockdown that turned up other contraband and led to a criminal probe into guard misconduct, the federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press.The handgun was located by Bureau of Prisons officers inside a housing unit at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, prison officials said in a statement to the AP. It marked a massive breach of protocol and raised serious questions about the security practices in place at the Bureau of Prisons, which is responsible for more than 175,000 federal inmates, and specifically at the jail, which had been billed as one of the most secure in America. Officials have not said where specifically the gun had been found, or how it had been smuggled inside the jail.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into potential misconduct by guards, focusing on the flow of contraband into the lockup uncovered during the search for the gun, three people familiar with the matter told the AP. They were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Attorney General William Barr named a new director last week to take charge of the agency, which has been the subject of intense scrutiny since Epstein took his own life while in custody in August. But the agency has been plagued for years by serious misconduct, violence and a chronic staffing shortage.
Since then, officials have been keeping inmates locked down in their cells without access to their lawyers and canceled all visitation at the jail, which houses about 700 inmates. In the past few days, officers have searched the facility and uncovered a sizable amount of contraband, including cellphones, narcotics and homemade weapons, the Bureau of Prisons said.
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Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan: 2019-11-19 Epstein Media Cover Story: 'US prison system long plagued by staffing crisis, violence'
Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan: 2019-08-14 Judge overseeing key Jeffrey Epstein-related suit dies, Ep’s lawyers get own lawyers, Fibbies get Ep’s computers, jail staff consequences
Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan: 2019-08-13 Epstein, guard took bribe from Turkish gold dealer, Wikileaks managed shares prison phone
Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan: 2019-11-19 Epstein Media Cover Story: 'US prison system long plagued by staffing crisis, violence'
Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan: 2019-08-14 Judge overseeing key Jeffrey Epstein-related suit dies, Ep’s lawyers get own lawyers, Fibbies get Ep’s computers, jail staff consequences
Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan: 2019-08-13 Epstein, guard took bribe from Turkish gold dealer, Wikileaks managed shares prison phone
