Jeffrey Epstein death: Attorney General removes prisons director after disgraced financier's suicide

Decision comes less than two weeks after death of disgraced financier

(EPA)

Attorney general William Barr has removed Hugh Hurwitz from his position as acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, less than two weeks after disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail.

Mr Hurwitz's removal comes as evidence has mounted that guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York where Epstein was being held had abdicated their duties, and created circumstances in which the accused sex trafficker was able to hang himself inside of his cell. The suicide followed after an earlier attempt to kill himself was unsuccessful, but the disgraced financier had been taken off of suicide watch before his death.

Mr Barr has named Kathleen Hawk Sawyer to take over in Mr Hurwitz's absence. Ms Sawyer was the prison agency's director form 1992 until 2003.

The attorney general did not cite a specific reason for reassigning Mr Hurwitz, who will now be reassigned as deputy in charge of the bureau's re-entry programmes, where he will help with the Trump administration's First Step Act.

The death of Epstein has placed the bureau under intense scrutiny, and has sparked an investigation by both the Justice Department and the FBI.

The 66-year-old Epstein had been accused of sexually abusing teenage girls at his homes in New York and Florida, and elsewhere. He had previously dodged charges of sexual abuse of minors, but the allegations had resurfaced in recent months.

The death, which was official ruled a suicide late last week, has sparked considerable speculation, especially given the man's vast personal wealth and connections to prominent figures, including Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton.