six days later on july 29, epstein was taken off suicide watch. he had been moved into a special housing unit with another inmate. epstein's close friends believed that he was still happy while in jail. the jail told the justice department to regularly check epstein's jail cell. they made sure that epstein always had a cellmate nearby. additionally, a guard would check his cell every 30 minutes for any suspicious activity. the justice department followed these rules everyday until they accidentally didn't on the night before his death. on august 9, epstein's former cellmate was transferred out of epstein's cell, but no replacement cellmate was brought in. later in the evening, epstein had not been checked every 30 minutes. the two guards that were supposed to supervise epstein fell asleep for three hours and made false records of epstein's activity. two cameras in front of epstein's cell also stopped working that night.