>Mersey had signed up as an 'inmate companion', where prisoners complete four hours of training then take shifts around the clock to observe fellow inmates on suicide watch. He spent about two dozen hours one-on-one with Epstein.
>Mersey said: 'He told me that when he grew up in Coney Island, he'd been bullied by black guys throughout his youth and he was just really scared of prison'
>Mersey said Epstein's biggest worry was how to cope with life in prison.
>'He was really apprehensive about prison life, this was a big problem for him,' Mersey said.
>'He was always asking about how to handle fellow inmates. He felt threatened. He asked me, ''Do I need a shvar?'' [an offensive Yiddish word meaning black person].
>'He told me that when he grew up in Coney Island, he'd been bullied by black guys throughout his youth and he was just really scared of prison.
>'Everybody told him the same thing: Man up, stand up straight, look the guy in the eye if he's trying to intimidate you.
>'I would say, ''It's not really that bad, Jeffrey. This is not the penitentiary. The Aryan Brotherhood does not exist at MCC.'''
>'After the first time I met with him and I was being taken back to my cell, Epstein asked me, ''Mersey, are you coming back tomorrow?'' He seemed keen to have someone he could talk to.
Maxwell is afraid of prison, too. Have the Vegas odds been released yet?
