content: I haven't looked into the details of Epstein's case because I don't really care.. But I can tell you the history of why hanging is no longer  used as an execution method, which you can also look up. It is somewhat uncommon for bones to be broken unless there are specific circumstances in place. If those circumstances are not in place then they die by strangulation instead, and it becomes "cruel and unusual punishment". So logically it is pretty improbable that Epstein could amateurly successfully hang himself, unless he was extremely lucky and under most circumstances he should have just strangled himself to death. All in all though, this should be easily able to calculable if you have all the evidence and you should able to tell what the "chances for bones to break" are.