Barr removes prisons chief after Epstein death

Attorney General William Barr on Monday announced he had removed the acting director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons one week after the death of Jeffrey Epstein.

Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who previously occupied the role between 1992 and 2003, will take over as the new director.

The outgoing acting director, Hugh Hurwitz, will return to his previous role as an assistant director for the bureau’s reentry program, Barr said.

The death of Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking, has led to scrutiny of the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he was in custody.

Federal officials like Barr, who oversees the Federal Bureau of Prisons as part of the Justice Department, have come under extreme pressure to explain the disgraced financier’s apparent suicide.