Epstein Jail in Manhattan to Face Suit Over Another Inmate Death

(Bloomberg) -- The Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell in August, will have to face a lawsuit by the family of another inmate who died there under controversial circumstances, a judge ruled.

Roberto Grant was in the MCC in 2015, awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to taking part in a gang that carried out smash-and-grab jewelry store robberies. He was found dead after telling his mother and Nicole Morrison, his ex-wife, that he was being harassed and physically threatened by a corrections officer. Morrison, who is the mother of Grant’s two children, sued on behalf of Grant’s estate in 2017.

Morrison claims that a corrections officer told her and Grant’s mother that Grant “died of a drug overdose and had not been physically harmed.” An autopsy showed he’d been beaten to death and had no drugs in his system. On Friday, U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan dismissed from the suit the two corrections officers who’d been named, as well as the Federal Bureau of Prisons, but let the complaint proceed against the U.S.

“Recently, the death of a high-profile defendant reinvigorated public scrutiny of MCC,” Pauley wrote, apparently referring to Epstein’s death. “The unexplained circumstances surrounding Mr. Grant’s death raise troubling questions about the BOP’s oversight of individuals remanded to its custody. Mr. Grant’s relatives -- and the public -- have an interest in learning what happened.”

Epstein died alone in his cell about five weeks after his arrest on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex. The city’s chief medical examiner ruled that he hanged himself. How he was permitted to do so -- and escape facing his accusers in court -- remains controversial. Earlier he’d been found unconscious in his cell with injuries to his neck and been placed on suicide watch, then removed from continuous observation.

Friday’s decision comes a day after the New York City Council voted to close the notorious Rikers Island jail, which houses defendants before trial on state charges or those serving short sentences. New York plans to build four smaller jails around the city.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey

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