“CRITICAL” camera footage outside the jail cell of Jeffrey Epstein is damaged and “unusable” sparking an FBI probe, it has been reported.
Three sources briefed on the matter told The Washington Post that the video from the Metropolitan Correctional Centre, located in Manhattan, cannot be used by police.
However, the report said there is CCTV footage in better condition taken of the area.
The Post’s report called the unusable footage “yet another of the apparent failures” at the facility and called the footage critical to the probe.
It is not clear if the issue with the cameras is isolated or an ongoing problem at the facility.
The FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office are now probing the incident and are also assessing whether any policies were broken or crimes were committed, the Post reports.
The August 10 suicide of the 66-year-old financier – who had spent time under suicide watch just weeks before – prompted drastic measures by Attorney General William Barr.
The acting director of the Bureau of Prisons was removed from his position and the two guards who were supposed to be watching Epstein have been placed on administrative leave.
The warden of the facility has also been temporarily reassigned.
Epstein’s death stirred online conspiracy theories that questioned how such a high-profile inmate could kill himself in his cell.
Barr promised to work to get answers prompting the FBI and Justice Department’s inspector general’s office are investigating.
The Attorney General has said officials had uncovered “serious irregularities” and was angry that staff members at the federal lockup had failed to “adequately secure this prisoner.
The FBI, DOJ and U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan did not respond to the Post.
Epstein had pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges and was being held without bail.
He had previously been accused of sexually abusing women in the early 2000s at mansions in Manhattan and Florida.
At the time of his death, he was preparing through his lawyers to argue in court papers due in September that he could not be prosecuted because he signed a no-prosecution deal a dozen years ago in Florida.
Prosecutors in New York said that deal did not prevent the new charges.
Epstein signed it before he pleaded guilty to Florida state charges in 2008, admitting sexual relations with teenage girls under the age of consent.
A version of this article originally appeared on FoxNews.com
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