WATCH: MYSTERY ORANGE FLASH SEEN OUTSIDE EPSTEIN’S CELL ON NIGHT HE DIED
An inmate “possibly” climbed the stairwell leading to Jeffrey Epstein’s remote prison cell, investigators concluded, according to newly-released inspection reports.
Just hours before Epstein killed himself in police custody, surveillance cameras captured an orange figure apparently heading in the direction of his cell.
Prison guards, the FBI and the department of justice’s (DoJ) office of inspector general disagreed over what the footage showed, newly released files show.
“A flash of orange looks to be going up the L Tier stairs — could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier,” the FBI wrote in its analysis of the footage.
However, the DoJ believed the figure to be an unidentified corrections officer, likely carrying linen or bedding.
“Inmates are currently on lockdown; it is possible someone is carrying inmate linen or bedding up,” the DOJ inspector general noted.
The final report by the inspector general said: “At approximately 10.39pm, an unidentified CO (correctional officer) appeared to walk up the L Tier stairway, and then reappeared within view of the camera at 10.41pm.”
The FBI’s log notes that the unclear image is “possibly an inmate”.
The difference of opinion between the agencies is laid bare in documents contained in the three million Epstein files published on Jan 30.
Epstein’s official cause of death was recorded as a suicide and he was found hanging in his cell shortly before 6.30am on Aug 10, 2019.
The staircase leading to Epstein’s cell tier was filmed by the only camera known to be operating that night, positioned so that the approach to his tier was only partially visible.
Government officials have relied heavily on the footage to reconstruct the sequence of events before Epstein’s death.
At 10.39pm the footage shows a flash of orange on the stairs leading to the locked, isolated tier where Epstein was being held.
A prison guard, who had worked consecutive shifts, said they fell asleep between 10pm and midnight.
The guard, named Bonhomme, later told investigators he had no recollection of that time period.
No scheduled welfare checks were carried out on Epstein at 3am or 5am, nor did he undergo 30-minute suicide-watch checks.
The medical examiner did not provide an estimate of how long the paedophile may have been dead before his body was discovered.
Official reviews of Epstein’s death make no mention of the figure in orange, and subsequent statements from authorities maintained that no one entered his housing tier on the night of his death.
“There’s video clear as day, he’s the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it,” Dan Bongino, then-deputy FBI director, said on Fox and Friends last summer.
More than one minute was missing from previously released footage of the prison on the night of Epstein’s death.
Nearly 11 hours of “full raw” video were made public, but forensic experts quickly pointed out that the footage had been edited multiple times, with a one-minute gap appearing just before midnight.
When questioned about the anomaly, Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said the Bureau of Prisons had explained it as part of an “antiquated process” that occurred nightly when the recordings automatically reset.
Epstein died in the high-security Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on federal sex crimes.
2026-02-06T20:15:39Z