Jeffrey Epstein Bought Small Women's Underwear While in a Florida Federal Jail

In 2008, more than a decade before he was indicted for sex trafficking and then committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell, Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting sex with a minor. He was sentenced to 13 months in jail as part of a so-called "sweetheart deal" set up by then-federal prosecutor Alex Acosta. As recent reporting by the Miami Herald has shown, Epstein's time in a Palm Beach, Florida jail was completely unlike what other inmates experienced.

For one thing, his jail cell was left unlocked and he was given "liberal access" to an attorney room where a TV was installed, per the orders of Captain Mark Chamberlain at the local sheriff's office, according to records of Epstein's stay released by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office late last week. His reason: Epstein was too rich and unaccustomed to being in jail to be treated like a normal prisoner.

"His financial status lends itself to his being victimized while in custody and as such, he has been placed in special management. He is poorly versed in jail routine and society and his adjustment to incarceration will most likely be atypical," Chamberlain wrote of Epstein. His sentence bears shocking similarities to that of millionaire Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's one-time campaign manager who has been convicted of a host of fraud charges. The Justice Department intervened directly in Manafort's case to make sure he wasn't moved to Rikers Island, a facility with as many as 10,000 held in custody on any given day, most of them black or Latino. Instead, Manafort was kept in federal custody out of concern for his "health and safety."

During the course of Epstein's 13 months in jail, he was originally granted work release six days a week for up to 12 hours at a time, meaning he only spent one full day per week behind bars. And, per the Herald, his sentence got even more accommodating as time went on:

The documents also reveal a lot about Epstein's habits during the time that he actually did spend in jail. A paralegal snuck him a book titled Face Exercises That Prevent Premature Aging. He bought 800 single-serve cups of coffee. And he bought two pairs of women's size five underwear, which, as the Herald describes, are "so small that they wouldn’t fit an average-sized adult woman."

That's according to the jail's commissary records, which also show that Epstein purchased medium-sized men's briefs and XL to 3XL sweatshirts. The commissary serves both male and female inmates, according to the Herald, which would explain why the women's underwear was kept in stock. But there's no explanation for why Epstein was buying women's underwear. And the fact that a childless man who was accused of soliciting sex from a minor was able to buy small-sized women's underwear without apparently arousing any suspicion underscores just how much freedom officials gave Epstein when he was supposed to be paying his dues to society for his crime.

By the time Epstein was finally indicted this summer, Acosta had been named Labor Secretary by Donald Trump. He defended his role in the sentencing, saying of Epstein's victims, "I wanted to help them. That is why we intervened. And that’s what the prosecutors of my office did—they insisted that he go to jail and put the world on notice that he was and is a sexual predator." Acosta resigned two days later.

Epstein's time in jail is a particularly egregious example of the special treatment afforded to wealthy, often white, offenders in the U.S. criminal justice system. Wealthy defendants not only can afford better legal defenses, but even when they're convicted, like in the case of rapist and Stanford student Brock Turner, their sentences are exceedingly gentle because, like Epstein, they aren't well-versed in "jail routine."

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Originally Appeared on GQ