Justice Department watchdog says negligence and misconduct by federal jail guards led to Jeffrey Epstein’s death in 2019

The US justice department watchdog said on Tuesday a “combination of negligence and misconduct” enabled the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to take his own life at a federal jail in New York City while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The justice department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, cited the federal Bureau of Prisons’ failure to assign Epstein a cellmate after his previous one left and problems with surveillance cameras as factors in Epstein’s death.

Horowitz also said Epstein was left in his cell with too many bed linens, which are a security...