Nearly four years after Jeffrey Epstein's death, thousands of pages of records obtained by The Associated Press are shedding new light on the financier’s time behind bars and a frantic response by federal corrections officials to his death.The documents, including emails between jail officials and psychological evaluations, offer a fuller picture of Epstein as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctionalnassar Center.Epstein killed himself at the federal jail in 2019. In the days and weeks that followed, corrections officials struggled to explain how such a high-profile detainee had managed to take his own life.The records show how he was moved from the jail’s general population to specialized housing and how he was briefly on suicide watch before being downgraded to psychiatric observation — his status when he killed himself.Here are takeaways from the more than 4,000 pages of documents:AN AGITATED INMATEEpstein was anxious and despondent during much of his time in jail, prompting concern from jail guards and psychological experts about his mental state. He complained often about jail life, including poor sleep, constipation, the color of his uniform and his treatment by other detainees. The noise from a broken toilet in his cell left him sitting in the corner with his hands over his ears, according to one psychologist.But despite his litany of complaints, Epstein insisted that he wouldn't take his own life. Even after he was discovered on his cell's floor with a strip of bedsheet around his neck and placed on suicide watch for 31 hours, he denied that he was contemplating suicide, which he said was against his Jewish religion. Plus, he added, he was a “coward” who didn’t like pain.“He described having a ‘wonderful life,’’” a psychological evaluation stated. “He said ‘it would be crazy’ to take his life. He furthered, ‘I would not do that to myself.’”A LETTER TO ANOTHER SEX OFFENDERAmong the new revelations was an attempt by Epstein to reach out to another notorious pedophile: Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of young athletes.A letter sent by Epstein to Nassar was found returned to sender in the jail’s mail room weeks after Epstein’s death. “It appeared he mailed it out and it was returned back to him,” the investigator who found the letter told a corrections official by email. “I am not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to anyone?”The letter itself wasn't included among the documents turned over to the AP, which also don't indicate what became of the letter.FINAL PHONE CALLEpstein was found dead on the morning of Aug. 10, 2019. He had hanged himself with a bedsheet, according to the medical examiner. Hours earlier, he appears to have successfully deceived jail guards one last time by telling them he wanted to talk on the phone to his mother, who had been dead for 15 years.A correctional officer escorted Epstein to a shower area at around 7 p.m., where he was permitted to make a 15 minute “social call.” Reports later indicated that he had phoned his 30-year-old girlfriend.Weeks after his death, a jail warden questioned why an employee had failed to follow policy by allowing Epstein to make an unmonitored call.MUDDLED RESPONSEThe documents shed light on the lurching response by the Bureau of Prisons in the critical hours of Epstein’s death.In one email, a prosecutor involved in Epstein’s criminal case complained to an agency lawyer that it was “frankly unbelievable” that the agency was issuing public news releases “before telling us basic information so that we can relay it to his attorneys who can relay it to his family.”In another email, the prosecutor wrote of getting “increasingly frantic calls” from Epstein’s lawyers.“We need to know as soon as possible the very basic facts, such as time and cause of death at the absolute minimum,” wrote the prosecutor, whose name was redacted. “It has now been hours since this was reported publicly,” the prosecutor wrote, adding that it was “extraordinary frustrating to have to tell them that we have less information than the press.”As news outlets began reporting details of the agency’s failings, a high-ranking federal prison official made the apparently baseless suggestion to the agency’s director that reporters must have been paying jail employees for information.THE AFTERMATHEpstein’s death touched off a wave of anger toward the Bureau of Prisons and questions about the operation of the Metropolitan Correctional Center. In an internal memo, officials blamed “seriously reduced staffing levels, improper or lack of training, and follow up and oversight” for the death.Two guards who were supposed to be watching Epstein on the night of his death were found to have falsified records, admitting to napping and browsing the internet instead of monitoring the high-profile inmate.The documents show other efforts to implement reforms, such as requiring jail captains to review footage, ensuring that guards are completing their rounds every 30 minutes. Jail officials said they would allow psychological experts to play a larger role in determining how housing decisions are made.In some respects, the officials may have overcorrected. A memo sent to the Bureau of Prisons director shortly after Epstein’s death warned that wardens were “defaulting to leaving inmates on suicide watch longer than the psychologists have advised.”By 2021, the Metropolitan Correctional Center had closed down. An investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general is still ongoing.

The messages began pouring into the law office of Joseph Jordan in Killeen, Texas, soon after the Pentagon announced it would seek to make the COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for troops. Service members wanted to know what their options were if they didn't want to be vaccinated."It's been the number one issue for our law firm for the last few days," Jordan told CNN. "I'm getting emails, I'm getting messages on my Facebook, we're getting phone calls. It's been absolutely nuts. Three or four calls an hour."The issue of mandatory vaccinations is relatively new for Jordan, whose experience as a criminal defense attorney near Fort Hood focuses on violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But that hasn't slowed the calls."The questions aren't coming from the young enlisted. They're coming from the seniors, they're coming from the midlevel ranks," Jordan said. "I talked to a guy with 31 years in the service, and he asked, 'Do I need to retire now?'"In the wake of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's announcement Monday that he would by mid-September seek the authority to make the vaccine mandatory even if it hadn't yet received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, other law firms have seen a similar spike in inquiries. CNN spoke with five law firms with a focus on military law that say they have all seen a surge in inquiries about the COVID-19 vaccines. (Two other law firms say they have not received questions on this issue.)'A lot of anger'"The soldiers who have talked to me, I've experienced a lot of anger," said Joseph Owens, a lawyer who served in the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps. Owens says his firm, based in Columbia, Maryland, has received about a dozen calls since Austin's announcement.For Owens, the question revolves around whether it is a lawful order to compel service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. And to answer that question, he says he will look into the decision-making process behind mandating that vaccine and the legal considerations that went into the decision. Any procedural missteps in testing, authorizing, or administering the vaccine, he says, could make it an unlawful order."I think there's a very good argument that the answer is no, it's not a lawful order," Owens said, citing the troubled implementation of the anthrax vaccine in the late 1990s.The military mandated the anthrax vaccine beginning in 1998, but it quickly ran into legal challenges and sowed distrust of unknown vaccines among service members, some of whom faced dismissal for their refusal to take the vaccine. That skepticism has crept up again with some troops for the COVID-19 vaccine."They want more data before they put a chemical in their body," Owens said.But a similar challenge to the COVID-19 vaccines could be far more difficult to make, especially if the Defense Department waits for FDA approval before making the shots mandatory.Despite being far newer vaccines, the COVID-19 shots have been administered to nearly 170 million Americans and many more around the world. The vaccines currently have an emergency use authorization from the FDA. Under this authorization, the military has made the vaccine available on a voluntary basis — troops who want to receive it can. But until now, Pentagon officials had been clear that they would not move to make it mandatory, focusing instead on encouragement and education to convince skeptical service members of its importance.Jordan acknowledged the potential difficulty of challenging a mandatory order to get the coronavirus vaccine."You may not have a leg to stand on as it is, because you're looking at what is in the best interest of the service and your duty to your country," he said.The military has accelerated its plans to vaccinate the force with the expectation of either imminent FDA approval or a request for a waiver from the defense secretary.A draft warning order obtained by CNN from a West Coast Army base lays out a detailed plan to organize vaccinations across the facility, including what roles units will play and where vaccination sites will be set up. The warning order, which is notification of an upcoming mission, says the date the vaccine becomes mandatory will be referred to as "V-Day," short for vaccination day. It also appears to be a reference to "Victory Day," a holiday to mark successes in battles or war.'V-Day'"Given uncertainty with regard to potential FDA approval date, V-Day could occur with less than 7 days notice," the draft warning order states.There are up to 17 mandatory vaccines for troops, though the total number required for each individual service member depends on where he or she is deployed or based. In the United States, service members are required to receive at least eight vaccines before basic training, including chickenpox, Hepatitis A&B, and a yearly flu vaccine. (The anthrax vaccine is required for longer deployments in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. In North America, it depends on Defense Department policy.)As the Pentagon develops a policy around restrictions for service members who refuse to accept the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes mandatory, troops who refuse the currently mandatory vaccines face an array of potential disciplinary actions, including possible discharge from the military.Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday that commanders would have a "range of tools" to work with service members who did not want to receive the vaccine that do not rely on disciplinary measures. But he added that "once a vaccine has been mandated, it becomes a lawful order to compel an individual to take the vaccine.""Our expectation is that if an individual doesn't want to take the vaccine that we're going to provide them some counseling," said Kirby at a press briefing Wednesday, including "access to doctors, access to leaders in their chain of command so they fully understand the implications and repercussions to them if they don't take the vaccine."Kirby said there could be religious and medical exemptions to receiving the vaccine, but that it would be considered on a case-by-case basis.Patrick McLain, a retired Marine Corps military judge based in Dallas who still practices law, fully expects that some troops will be discharged over their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, similar to the courts-martial over the anthrax vaccine."I have no doubt it'll happen again," McLain said, estimating that it would take until the beginning of next year before the military began taking more severe actions. McLain said he had already taken on his first client who did not want to receive the vaccine, but he estimated that number across the military would be quite low in the end."There's probably a relatively small percentage in the military that will resist it," McLain said. "You're not going to find too many people that are joining the military that are going to refuse orders."

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