How Convenient ...

SF Gate reports that "[f]ootage from camera outside Epstein's cell deemed unusable."

       At least one camera in the hallway outside the cell where authorities say registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself earlier this month had footage that is unusable, although other, clearer footage was captured in the area, according to three people briefed on the evidence gathered earlier this month.

       It was not immediately clear why some video footage outside Epstein's cell is too flawed for investigators to use or what is visible in the other, usable footage. The incident is being investigated by the FBI and the Justice Department's inspector general's office, which are attempting to determine what happened and how to assess whether any policies were violated or crimes committed.

      The footage is considered critical to those inquiries, and the revelation of an unusable recording is yet another of the apparent failures inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the short-staffed Bureau of Prisons facility in downtown Manhattan that held Epstein.

     It's unclear whether the flaw in the taping affected a limited duration of the footage or whether it was a chronic problem in the beleaguered facility.

But now Reuters is reporting that there were two malfunctioning cameras outside Epstein's cell, both of which are being examined by the FBI. "The two cameras were within view of the Manhattan jail cell where he was found dead on Aug. 10. A source earlier told Reuters two jail guards failed to follow a procedure overnight to make separate checks on all prisoners every 30 minutes."

      To sum up, Epstein told guards that he was afraid people were trying to kill him, he allegedly attempts a suicide by hanging himself, he is put on suicide watch for a while, but then taken off suicide watch by Management an unnamed psychiatrist, his cell mate was transferred from his cell hours before his death leaving Epstein alone contrary to policy, his guards supposedly fell asleep while guarding him and falsified records to cover it up, there is reported screams or cries from his cell, and at least two security cameras malfunctioned. If someone had submitted a novel based on the same facts to a publisher, it would have been rejected as too unbelievable.