Officials have said the mysterious orange shape on Jeffrey Epstein‘s floor spotted on security cam footage the night he died was likely a corrections officer (CO), but newly released documents show that finding was far from a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, both explanations — an inmate or a CO on Epstein’s floor — contradict several official statements that Epstein was alone when he died by what officials have called a suicide.
FBI memo: Orange shape “possibly an inmate”
As CBS News reports, a Metropolitan Correctional Center observation log says, “A flash of orange looks to be going up the L Tier stairs,” or Epstein’s floor, at around 10:30 p.m. The log added, “Could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier.” Additionally, an FBI memo says the figure could “possibly be an inmate.” COs typically wear navy or grey.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General concluded it’s an “unidentified CO” possibly carrying orange “linen or bedding.” A previous CBS News analysis concluded that the movements in the brief flash of orange were more likely those of an inmate than of a CO.
CBS News forensic analysis of the released footage found a “jump” in the digital clock around midnight, suggesting a minute of footage may be missing, or the system was malfunctioning more severely than initially reported
CBS News interviewed a prison employee who noted a CO escorting an inmate at that time would be unusual.
Nevertheless, Bill Barr, Trump’s Attorney General when Epstein died in 2019, stated Epstein was alone on his housing tier when he died.
Trump’s former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino told Fox & Friends in the summer of 2025, “There’s video clear as day, he’s the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it.”
What happened to Jeffrey Epstein?
Officials first publicly acknowledged the mysterious orange shape in connection with Epstein’s final hours in 2025, when journalists and forensic analysts reviewed new surveillance footage and DOJ logs.
The official account of Epstein’s death has remained that he died by suicide by hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on August 10, 2019, and the New York City medical examiner ruled it a suicide.
The newly disclosed records, drawing attention to the orange figure — including surveillance logs and internal agency notes — were made public by the Department of Justice in late 2025 and early 2026 as part of a congressionally mandated release of millions of pages tied to the Epstein investigation.
The orange flash and other documented irregularities
The questions raised by the orange figure add to a long list of documented irregularities surrounding Epstein’s final hours at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Both correctional officers assigned to his unit that night later admitted to falsifying log entries and failing to conduct required inmate checks. Surveillance cameras covering parts of the unit were known to be malfunctioning, and other cameras captured only partial views of the tier.
Epstein had also been removed from suicide watch days earlier, despite a prior apparent suicide attempt, and was housed without a cellmate in a unit designed for closer monitoring. The Office of Inspector General’s investigation documented extensive staffing failures, malfunctioning equipment, and repeated protocol lapses, while concluding that those breakdowns did not alter the medical examiner’s determination.
The appearance of an unexplained figure on the tier during the critical window before Epstein’s death adds another data point to an already complicated timeline that investigators, journalists, and lawmakers continue to scrutinize.
Published: Feb 6, 2026 01:30 pm