Attorney General William Barr announced on Tuesday that the two guards who were tasked with watching jailed pedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been placed on administrative leave and the warden of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York City was reassigned to the Northeast Region Office in Philadelphia. However, little is known about Lamine N’Diaye, including why he is still working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The action comes after Epstein allegedly committed suicide on August 10 following new sex trafficking charges filed against him this summer and a judge’s order that he remain behind bars ahead of a trial scheduled for next June.

One of N’Diaye’s contemporaries believes N’Diaye should not still be on the job, according to a report in the Times Union, based in Albany, New York:

Jose Rojas, a union leader and teacher at a federal prison in Florida, said N’Diaye should be home without pay instead of being reassigned. He said it appears to him that the Bureau of Prisons is “protecting him and putting the blame on officers.”

“I put this on the warden,” he said. “If he would have had common sense and followed policy, we wouldn’t be here discussing this.”

According to Voice of America, prior to his job as the MCC warden, N’Diaye was in charge of the Bureau of Prisons office of internal affairs.

A 2016 article about the Prison Legal News website about prisoners sickened by tainted food in a Pennsylvania prison reports that N’Diaye once worked at the office where he was reassigned:

More than 300 prisoners at the U.S.P. Canaan in Waymont, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, fell ill of salmonella after eating “tainted chicken” used to make fajitas. Four of the 300 were ill enough to necessitate treatment at a local hospital’s emergency room for dehydration.

According to Lamine N’diaye, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) northeast regional office, the prison kitchen was closed down for cleaning after the outbreak, but has since reopened after a BOP inspector deemed it safe.

N’Diaye’s name also shows up in a discrimination lawsuit filed by a BOP employee who was fired in 2009. The lawsuit’s final order is dated 2014:

Plaintiff Roderick Jenkins brought this action against Defendant Eric H. Holder, Attorney General of the United States of America, alleging pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-16, et seq. (“Title VII”), that he was subjected to discriminatory treatment due to his race when he was terminated from his job at the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). Plaintiff further claims that his termination was discriminatory on the basis of his disability in violation ofthe Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 791, et seq. (“Rehabilitation Act”). Finally, Plaintiff also alleges that his termination was in retaliation for protected activity in violation ofboth Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act. Defendant seeks summary judgment on all claims.

On or about November 16, 2009, the MCC’s Department Head for Correctional Services, Captain Lamine N’Diaye.

It is undisputed that Captain Lamine N’Diaye, a superior officer at the MCC, issued the proposal letter to Plaintiff on November 16, 2009. 

If one googles “Lamine N’Diaye,” the results show that the warden shares a name with a Senegalese football coach and former player who is the manager of the Sudanese club Al-Hilal.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.