The DOJ doesn't hold itself accountable, and Epstein's suicide won't change that

Even with the eyes of the world on him and the Department of Justice’s vast resources arrayed against him, Jeffrey Epstein was able to commit suicide Saturday while in U.S. custody in downtown Manhattan. Federal law enforcement officials and prison experts have almost uniformly opined about how inconceivable his death is.

And indeed, in this particularly high-profile case, they are right. But what’s very conceivable to anyone familiar with the daily grind of the criminal justice system is what a common occurrence it is for people in pretrial detention to take their own lives.

People detained in jails awaiting trial are an astonishing seven times more likely to commit suicide than people incarcerated in prisons.

The leading cause of death in local jails is suicide. People detained in jails awaiting trial are an astonishing seven times more likely to commit suicide than people incarcerated in prisons after being convicted and sentenced.

Why such stark figures? They are the result of a toxic mix: deplorable jail conditions, such as unsanitary facilities and a lack of medical services, combined with incarcerated people — a large number of whom suffer from mental illness — who are at their most vulnerable immediately after being arrested.

One might expect conditions at jails to be better than prisons. After all, people awaiting trial have been convicted of nothing; unlike prison, the purpose of jail is expressly not punishment but assurance of the person’s presence in court and the safety of the community until the case is resolved.

source: nbcnews.com