Tova Noel, the guard for convicted financier Jeffrey Epstein, testified that he was given “special treatment” during his imprisonment.
Noel gave her testimony as part of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation into Epstein.
The correctional officer appeared for a closed-door interview with the committee. She said she thinks she was the last person to see Epstein alive.
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“Jeffrey Epstein got special treatment in that facility,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia) said on Monday. “He got access to medications in a way no one else did. He got access to extra bed linens, which helped him commit suicide. He got access to a CPAP machine, which had a long cord.
“And so Jeffrey Epstein – just like Ghislaine Maxwell, right now – was given special treatment in incarceration,” Subramanyam went on to say.
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In November 2025, a series of letters sent from Maxwell to her family and attorney revealed that she was receiving special treatment in a minimum-security prison in Texas.
It was also reported that she was getting preferential treatment from inside the prison, with one inmate writing in an email obtained by NBC News, “They are delivering her meals to her, and no inmates are allowed to prepare her meals.”
A short number of lawmakers on the Oversight panel attended the transcribed interview with Noel, since there are no votes scheduled in the House until May 20.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-New Mexico) attended a portion of the interview with Noel.
Stansbury blamed the poor attendance on the “chaotic majority” and “the constant changing of the schedule.”
She also said that she believed Noel had been forthcoming with the Oversight panel.
Documents released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on March 5 contained an FBI record of her internet search history from August 10, 2019 showed that she Googled “latest on Epstein in jail” at 5:42 a.m. and then again at 5:52 a.m.
Noel’s colleague, Michael Thomas, found Epstein deceased by hanging at 6:30 that morning.
During her shift on that day, the correctional officer shopped for furniture online and lay down on the job instead of making the mandated checks on Epstein every half hour, while Thomas inspected motorcycles online, prosecutors reported.
Some time later, surveillance footage was released, showing Noel and Thomas lounging in front of the officer station in the Special Housing Unit of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center at approximately 3:15 a.m.
They were writing on a piece of paper, walking about and speaking on the phone, but they were not conducting the mandatory 3:00 a.m. rounds.
Source: uInterview