SWORN STATEMENT¶
DIGITALLY RECORDED¶
OIG CASE #:¶
2019-010614¶
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL¶
OCTOBER 13, 2021¶
RESOLUTE DOCUMENTATION SERVICES¶
28632 Roadside Drive, Suite 285¶
Agoura Hills, CA 91301¶
Phone:¶
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the only place. I mean, it could be in the memorandum. But yeah. The 292, again, I don’t know what they - remember what they call that form. It is where it all information for each inmate in Special Housing is kept.¶
MR. But the 292 is a form, basically, that lists each offender’s name, cell number, and the kind of list (Indiscernible *00:13:26). If they’ve had recreation, their meals, medical intentions, stuff like that. And there is a place in there where it could be noted that there is that requirement, but the officer would have to put it in there, after they were notified. So, it’s not the way to -. I think what you are¶
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if Epstein’s cellmate, was removed as Epstein’s cellmate?¶
MR. : Well, I mean, any inmate requiring a cellmate is still the - whether it’s on the 292 or on the hot list - that information is still, would still be there. So, the staff and the SHU would still be required to provide a cellmate.¶
MR. : And what was that something that you were - I know you mentioned already you were not involved - but that is not something you were aware of, that if there was a secondary plan, hey, just in case gets removed, there’s some actions that we need to take?¶
MR. : No. I mean, I do remember - I’m trying to remember if this was before or after - but I do remember that the warden had already identified a couple of people, if the cellmate was ever removed. But I can’t tell you who they were, or when that conversation happened. I mean, that could have been months before. I don’t know.¶
MR. : Okay. And you were aware that -. Has the warden spoke to you about¶
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legit. I don’t get -. The Regional Director is not involved in that detail, I mean, that was something that the facilities Comtech, or the facilities administrator would have looked it. We would have made a decision based on need. So, it sounds like we did the right thing and got them what they needed.¶
MR. : Yeah. Now, you said who would have been responsible, the facilities manager, and -?¶
MR. : So, if they needed the cameras, and they sent up a request, it would come up through the facilities officer in the region, and then up through the central office, and then, they would send out the money, which sounds like they did.¶
MR. □: Okay. And then, did you see, it says 2018 —¶
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incident explains it all. Honestly, they are extremely important. I mean, there was a time in the Bureau we didn’t have cameras.¶
Honestly, there were no cameras in the institutions. But now that we have them, we’ve come to rely on them for everything. To say how important it is, I mean, there is not a document that says somewhere that they will be here, they will be there. That’s, you know, the facility decides where they need them at, and then, they are approved up the chain from there, but they are an important part of our security, because basically, they are reviewed any time there is any incident. So, whether there is a fight, assault, accusations of sexual assault, you name it, any kind of significant event, the first thing the facility does is pull all the cameras, in those areas, and reviews it.¶
MR. : And just to clarify, I mean, based on what our knowledge is, it looks like you could live view the cameras, but none of it was recording. Now, being that they found out on August 8th that the cameras were not recording.¶
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(Indiscernible *00:44:48) a few days, one to two days to fix it, or should it have been fixed immediately?¶
think that is a long period. I mean, if I was a warden and my Comtech came to me and says, hey, the cameras on this range are not working, I would tell them to get them fixed. Now, if it has been a week later, and they are still not fixed, I would probably ask why. But if it is not fixed the next day, you know, I’m giving them time to work on it first. I don’t know what the problem is. And the wardens at the facilities are not Comtech experts, and not experts in communication equipment. So, to say, you know, you got the next two hours to get it fixed, that seems to be extreme. If it has been a while, that is probably a question of why is it -? Why -? I guess my answer would be, if it has been a couple days, they¶
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MR. : Yeah. I mean, you described the situation. We don’t know what happened on that phone call. It could have potentially led to the incident, but we don’t, we will never know. Yeah. All inmate phone calls are supposed to be monitored. And I believe - and I could be completely wrong - but I believe every Special Housing has a monitored phone that is not - that doesn’t require a PIN for that purpose. Now, I could be completely wrong.¶
MR. : Yeah. It seems I recall - and again, I have been out of the game for a long time - but it seems like they were requiring all of the Special Housings to have a phone, and you would have to check with the central office on this, but it seems like every Special Housing was required to have a phone,¶
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MR. : Yeah. So, the operations -. Yeah. The duty officer is more the eyes and ears of the warden when the warden is not there.¶
MR. Okay. And it say, “IDOs do not routinely visit SHU each day, as required by the institution supplement,” and then, it gives a number. It says,¶
“Additionally, the IDO reports consistently document the condition of SHU as satisfactory when observations have shown the SHU to be less than satisfactory.” So, our main question there was just, who was this IDO that you are referring to? So, that is an actual position title?¶
MR. : Yes. No, no, no. Each department head, typically it’s, at facilities, in every facilities in there, there’s somewhere that will have a list of positions that require you to cover as the IDO. So, like, your education department head, your food service administrator, your unit managers. Those are¶
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all department heads. And so, they have to rotate through the duty officer schedule. And say, I want to say it is a Tuesday to Tuesday schedule. In most facilities. And so, they come in Tuesday afternoon. They will stay until 9 o’clock each night. And they work straight through to the next Tuesday. And just kind of reporting to the warden if there is any concerns. If any incidents happened at the institution. The duty officers want it, reports it to the warden. That kind of stuff.¶
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MR. : — when a lieutenant conducts a round in the SHU, are they required to conduct a round of the actual inmates themselves, or does a lieutenant round just consist of them checking in with the SHU staff officers to make sure everything is okay?¶
MR. : You say required? I don’t know what the policy specifically says. The expectation is they should be doing rounds on every range, because they are supposed to be monitoring the facility itself. So, how are they going to know what’s happening if they don’t go down range?¶
MR. : Sure. So, the expectation would be that a lieutenant is actually conducting a round the same way that a staff member would be conducting a round?¶
MR. : Not necessarily the same way. They are not doing cell by cell, you know, counts and stuff like that. But they should be going up and down the range, checking on inmates. I’m not, you know, I’m not going to say they are going to expect them to stop at every cell and talk to every inmate. But they should be going down range, and if inmates¶
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holler at them, they need something, or they stop in and check on them from time to time, that is part of it.¶
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MR. : Okay.¶
MR. : — tough on time. Let’s see. So, here is one. So, we have a, there was a timeline in the after-action report. And this is the actual incident itself. It says, “On August 10th, 2019, at 6:33 a.m., a body alarm is activated in the Special Housing Unit. SHU staff reported that Epstein was unresponsive in his cell.” It says, “Sentry does not reflect this accurately. Staff entered the cell and attempted to wake inmate Epstein. Control center announced a medical emergency, and CPR was initiated.” It says, “At 7:36 a.m., inmate Epstein was pronounced dead by the emergency room physician.” Do you know - and this is where we get a confusing information - do you know if Epstein showed any signs of life between 6:33 a.m., when he was found, until 7:36, when he was pronounced dead?¶
MR. : No. I don’t. I don’t recall ever hearing anything about his status between the time that they found him to the time they pronounced him.¶
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unofficial policy, saying that an inmate can’t or shouldn’t be pronounced dead at the institution? Because that just causes problems, and you should always wait to get to the hospital?¶
MR. : I mean, there is, you hear those rumors. I mean, I remember when I was an officer, and no inmates dies in prison type of thing. But no, I mean, you try to resuscitate, but there have been inmates, from time to time, very rarely, that are pronounced inside the facility. And typically, what happens in that situation is the rescue squad arrives. They start, you know, resuscitation or whatever, and they determine that this person has expired, they will call the, you know, whatever is required at that jurisdiction, the , and the will pronounce them, based on the information provided from the rescue squad. I’m not sure what the requirement is in New York on that.¶
MR. : Okay. Now, going on in the report, it says - this is after the timeline - it says, “SHU has multiple cells equipped with video recording capability.¶
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Inmate Epstein was not housed in one of these cells. And there appears to be no set guidance on when to utilize these cells.” Do you know if Epstein should have been placed in one of these cells, with the -?¶
MR. No. Those cells should not even have existed. Those were left over from 9/11. After 9/11, when they started bringing in all the terrorists. There is actually requirements not to have those areas recorded because it’s a PREA violation. So, most facilities only have one or two cells that will have a camera. And that is typically only for an inmate who may be placed in four-point restraints, for continuous monitoring. Or in a suicide watch cell. But just for general cells, that facility just had a lot of them because they were never removed after 9/11.¶
MR. : All right. So, the fact that this says this in the after-action report, you kind of disagree with that?¶
MR. □: The fact that it was, I mean, the fact that it was available, could they have used it? Sure. But is it required? No.¶
MR. □: All right. And do you¶
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believe that it should not have been utilized?¶
It just sounds like it shouldn’t, because you said, it sounded like there was some violations, the only reason they are there for, like, more like terroristic things.¶
MR. : Well, I’m sorry. What does it say again?¶
MR. : The specific point says, “SHU has multiple cells equipped with video recording capability. Inmate Epstein was not housed in one of these cells, and there appears to be no set guidance on when to utilize these cells.”¶
MR. : And the reason is because they were there. And the reason of that, they did the investigation for me, was aware they were there. And basically just saying is, you got this, this technology, you need to have something in writing about when and how you can use it. And since, it is not saying they should have used it.¶
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MR. : I don’t think so because, especially, you know, unfortunately, with who he was, and the kind of money he has, he could have used that against us. For violating some kind of privacy right or something. And so, that is why, typically, those cells are not used. In very rare instances they are used. And I don’t even think they exist now. I think they were removed some time later. Or disconnected. But I think his point was, you have them, you need to have something in writing saying how they are used.¶
MR. : Okay. So, this is going to be my last thing, because you’ve got to run, and this is, I’m going to read you kind of a more, it’s a whole paragraph, so it’s a little bit of a lengthy. So, just bear with me, if you don’t mind.¶
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it is apparent some SHU officers were aware. Although many people acknowledged this is an important fact, ultimately, the final staff responsible did not ensure the requirement was met. Including vital directives, such as cellmate requirements, and a mass email, does not ensure those who truly need that information do in fact receive it timely. In this case, inmate Epstein was actually placed with a cellmate when removed from psychology observation. After that moment, it is clear there was no additional written directive, or a fail safe system, established to ensure inmate Epstein would have a cellmate going forward.” Did you follow all that?¶
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MR. : I mean, yeah, that is the Bureau’s stance on that is, with any suicide, is the chances of suicide are much more diminished when they have a cellmate. Doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen, because it has happened. But it is less likely that that would be the outcome.¶
MR. : So, and on, I know that that is a really, there is a lot of different ways you can answer this question, but, like —¶
MR. : Mm-hmm.¶
MR. : — ultimately, in this¶
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case, from what you recall, and from just what we’ve talked about today, who ultimately was responsible for making sure that that -? I mean, I know we talked about the OIC —¶
MR. : From what you told me, what conversation we’ve had for the last hour, and the information you provided me, it sounds like, one) that a lieutenant, at some point, I don’t know which one, or how many, failed to follow up on the information they had; and two) it sounds like an OIC on one or multiple shifts failed to follow up, as well.¶
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CERTIFICATE¶
I hereby certify that the foregoing pages represent an accurate transcript of the electronic sound recording of the proceedings before the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General in the matter of:¶
Interview of¶
Brianna Rose Burton, Transcriber¶
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