Last week we noted that the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, allegedly one of the most secure federal facilities in the nation, had been locked down in order to search for a loaded firearm that authorities suspected of somehow being secreted inside.
Today, the AP reports that a gun has, in fact, been found in the facility. This is the same tight operation where Jeffrey Epstein was murdered committed “suicide.”
So the next time you hear a shrieking red-shirted mom or pathetically ignorant politician [BIRM] claim that “gun-free” zones keep people safe, ask yourself…if it’s possible to smuggle a loaded gun into a gated, guarded, metal-scanned federal detention facility, how hard can it possibly be to get one into a school, a city hall, or a court building?
By Michael Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak, AP
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
The investigation and search at the Manhattan facility began last week after officials received information that a gun may have been smuggled into the lockup and placed the jail on lockdown “in order to protect the public, staff and inmates until a comprehensive search could be completed,” the agency said in a statement.
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.
“All of these items pose a significant threat to the safety and security of the facility as well as the public,” the agency said in a statement.
Investigators were planning to continue searching the jail throughout the night Thursday, looking for any additional contraband, and the lockdown was expected to continue. Federal prosecutors are trying to determine how the it (sic)has all been entering the facility and the Bureau of Prisons said it notified the Justice Department’s inspector general and the FBI.
“The BOP is committed to the safety of staff, inmates and the public while continuing to ensure that those responsible for misconduct and criminal activity are held accountable,” the statement said.
All visitors and inmates are searched before entering the facility and go through metal detectors. They are supposed to leave personal belongings outside the jail. All mail is also screened by correctional staff.
The Bureau of Prisons said the jail has been on “modified operations” because of the investigation and didn’t provide an estimate for when normal operations could resume. Defense attorneys have raised concerns because the jail houses pretrial inmates while their cases are ongoing.
David Patton, executive director and chief attorney of the Federal Defenders of New York, said it’s a violation of inmates’ constitutional rights to deny them visits with their lawyers. He also said it has affected legal proceedings.
“Sentencings are being delayed. Hearings are being delayed,” Patton said. “But the MCC acts as though it’s perfectly fine for them to just shut down the entire institution to look for contraband. It’s just not acceptable. They’ve got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.”
The agency said Thursday that it arranged for additional staff from other parts of the U.S. to assist in the investigation and ensure there is appropriate staffing at the jail. The agency said it “has maintained communication with stakeholders as needed” and held a meeting with the chief federal judge and public defender in Manhattan, along with prosecutors, the Marshals Service and probation officials.
The agency also said it has discussed a plan to resume legal visits at the jail on Friday and expects to allow full legal visitation by next week. Visits with family members could resume as soon as this week, officials added.
“The Bureau has been working closely with the stakeholders throughout this period to ensure those defendants with imminent court deadlines have the legal visits with their legal counsel as needed,” the statement said.
Inmates are being locked down for 24 hours a day, and lawyers have been told that on some units the prisoners are being denied showers and being given cold meals in their cells. One inmate reported receiving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every meal since last Thursday.
The bureau said inmates are on a periodic shower rotation, except for those in special housing units, who remain on a regular schedule.
“All inmates have access to medical care and appointments and medical staff continue normal rounds on every floor,” the Bureau of Prisons said.
It is just the latest crisis at the jail, which houses a number of high-profile inmates, including attorney Michael Avenatti, who gained fame by representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits involving President Donald Trump. Federal prosecutors allege that the two correctional officers assigned to watch Epstein’s unit were snoozing and shopping on the internet when he took his own life in his cell in August, and later forged records to make it look like they checked in on him.
A NAA revolver could be taken in through rather unpleasant means. A Desert Eagle not so much.
You jest but it’s been done on a local level. I don’t remember the details but a few years back a woman smuggled one into jail inside her snatch
Inside job ya think?
usually…the job doesn’t pay that much…and temptation is everywhere…
Gun control works. Even in prison.
The phrase ‘ Repeat a lie long enough, and people will eventually believe it’ will not apply here. All rational people know Epstein did not kill himself.
Oh look, people on the federal payroll being negligent and stupid. That’s not news…
Rational people understand the difference between speculation and knowledge. Unless you were there as a witness, you don’t know what happened.
My witness is Dr. Michael Baden. He was a witness to the autopsy and he surmised it was a homicide. Also the doc. performing the autopsy did not rule it a suicide. His sleazy boss did that.
Thanks for stopping by Dad, now get the fuck outta here… Jeeze, you sound like a nun…
If everything is so “locked down”, how did one inmate report about the peanut butter and jelly sandwichs? Just curious, as I have never had any dealings with the Federal prison system.
cell phones end up in jail too, by rather unpleasant means.
In addition to janitorial services, drones, and via bow and arrow depending upon location and layout. It’s less a question of whether the inmates can get phones/drugs and more how worth it it is to limit the inflow.
Any system that uses people has that as the weakness.
all I can say is this…after conviction…my inmates would be happy to get that!
Enough of country club prisons, make the place SO F-ing bad you never want to go back!
Bring back chain gangs for ALL 100% and add in ALL the illegal border crossers (you wanted to come her to work…so get to working!)
So concealed carriers convicted of carrying in a Post Office parking lot should be subject to horrific prison conditions?
Or law abiding citizens convicted of violating obscure Federal gun laws should endure torture so bad they will never want to go back?
Think about us people of the gun who are sent to Federal Prison for technical violations.
It happens
One wonders what kind hilarity will ensue when Harvey”I’m gonna destroy the NRA” Weinstein settles down in Rikers😃😎😌😏? I’m kinda’ doubting old Harvey can regale bubba like fellow rapist Bill Cosby does…loaded guns are the least of his worries.
Well, for a given value of “gun” that might not be exactly true.
Hell, we all know he’ll be in protective custody. Bubba won’t be able to get within 100′ of him.
Depends on what/who he knows I suspect.
There will be accidental lapses in security.
“Hell, we all know he’ll be in protective custody.”
And for all practical purposes, that’s solitary confinement.
For someone like him, that’s worse than death. In a year, he’ll off himself, and good riddance.
I find it highly believable Epstein offed himself. A guy used to 3 blowjobs a day from a rented sexy, nubile young thing wouldn’t adjust well to where he was going… 😉
(He *bragged* about his 3 nuts a day…)
Wait until they start 3D printing them on the prison computer in the library.
You neglect to mention that this handgun (assume it was a handgun) was smuggled into a prison in a city protected by some of the most extreme gun control laws in the country, the Sullivan Act of 1911.
Remember that Epstein dieing is what the government wants us to believe. Personally, I believe that the feds put him out of the country on a permanent vacation. He has too much dirt on too many politicians, properly held by lawyers, it could come out and ruin dozens of careers with pix.
The “establishment” will always protect itself.
Locally we had an incident. Let me set this up for you. Enter the courthouse annex. To your immediate left are restrooms. Just past them the metal detectors. Then a waiting area. Finally a courtroom. A transport officer was moving an inmate from court to the county jail. They stopped at the bailiff’s desk/metal detector to complete some paperwork. The inmate asked to use the restroom. He was told to wait. He was persistent. So much so that it made the bailiff suspicious. He searched the restroom. In the toilet tank he found a gallon Zip Lock bag that contained a loaded Beretta 92 w/spare mag. There is no such thing as a gun free zone. The metal detectors have not been moved.
As far as I know there still giving away Obummer cell phones & the guns are probably from Holders fast & furious scam,
That could account for those two items.
As far as the peanut butter sandwiches are concerned, that’s all prisoners deserve. nothing in the constitution says inmates get surf & turf .
No Zhit !
True story. I entered a court building and told the guards that I was armed. I showed a guard my license and one escorted me to the lockers. I locked up my gun and was escorted past the metal detectors. I could have had multiple weapons and they would never had known.
The deep state is full of corrupt government employees.
Oh, please. Whom do you think you’re fooling. You know very well it wasn’t family members or defense lawyers who brought that gun in. You know very well it was the guards. So stop deflecting and clean house.
Perhaps the phrase should be “was Clintoned”.
Epstein didn’t kill himself.
Like my Christmas lights…..They didn’t hang themselves either…!
How do you hang yourself with your hands tied behind your back without assistance?
Probably the same way someone commits suicide by shooting themselves twice in the back. I don’t know — ask the Clintons. They seem to be up on the finer points of this stuff.
Prison guards smuggling contraband is about like a cheating/lying politician!
Inside job, no doubt from the beginning. The most successful times at acquiring major or serious contraband is when we had lockdowns. Why? Because during lockdown, a prison actually acts like a real prison, no one can do shit. This puts a damper on a lot of things good and bad going on inside. In turn, it causes the contraband to mysteriously show up. I’ve seen it multiple times. The babyshit crying about cold food, access to attorneys and all that crap falls by the side and fades away quickly, as there is no bone behind it and lockdowns preside over everything and everyone. That’s a good thing! Firing the head man was the first step, that is what got the ball rolling to the pins. I say good job. Can something like this happen again next week? Sure can..
In a prison the repercussions/penalties must severely out weigh the temptation to violate the law and be enforced regularly for both staff and inmates to seriously consider them. It’s a good deterrent to a liberal agenda that fuels much bad.
Good comments about the courthouse security procedures here too. That’s another story though..
Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself
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