The U.S. Department of Justice has released previously undisclosed photographs depicting Jeffrey Epstein’s body being attended to by medical personnel immediately following his death in custody. These twenty images, many deemed too graphic for public dissemination, form part of a declassified FBI investigation into the financier’s controversial demise.
The documents, published Friday among millions of Epstein-related files, include timestamps indicating the photos were taken at approximately 06:49 on August 10, 2019—roughly 16 minutes after guards found him unresponsive in his Metropolitan Correctional Center cell. The images show medical teams performing resuscitation efforts on Epstein while he lay on a stretcher, with visible neck injuries clearly documented in close-up shots.
BBC Verify conducted extensive forensic analysis of the released materials, confirming these particular images had not previously appeared online prior to January 30. The verification process included reverse image searches and cross-referencing with accompanying documents such as an 89-page post-mortem report filed by New York’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
The comprehensive FBI report spans 23 pages and contains a detailed six-week timeline of Epstein’s incarceration from his July 6, 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges until his death. Notably, the documents reveal Epstein was placed on suicide watch after an earlier July 23 incident where he allegedly accused his cellmate—Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer facing murder charges—of attempting to kill him.
Contradicting his documented mental state, psychological evaluations from July 24 show Epstein stating he had “no interest in killing myself” and that suicide “would be crazy.” The following day, he reportedly told psychologists he was “too vested in my case to fight it” and wanted to return to living his life.
Critical security failures emerge in the documentation: prison guards failed to conduct scheduled checks at 03:00 and 05:00 on the night of Epstein’s death, the camera system in his unit was nonfunctional, and his cellmate had been transferred the previous day—contrary to the warden’s specific recommendations against housing Epstein alone.
The release includes both redacted and unredacted versions of the FBI report, though the Justice Department has not clarified why both versions were included. Both the FBI and DoJ declined to provide additional commentary regarding the newly public documents.