EFTA00035913.pdf

Type: pdf
Source set: data-set-8
Extracted text

MEMORANDUM FOR MICHAEL E. HOROWITZ, INSPECTOR GENERAL, 
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 
FROM: 
Warden (Retired) 
SUBJECT: Response to Draft for the Office of Inspector General 
Investigation (OIG) of Jeffrey Epstein Suicide 
On Wednesday April 5, 2023, I reviewed the OIG draft report for 
the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional 
Center (MCC) in New York, New York. The draft stated that I 
used poor judgement in not selecting a backup cellmate for 
Jeffrey Epstein while he was housed in the Special Housing Unit 
(SHU). 
MCC New York is a pre-trial institution. The majority of the 
inmates housed at the facility are not designated and the 
facility had one designated unit that housed approximately 
seventy inmates. Pre-trial and designated inmates cannot be 
housed together. Mr. Epstein was housed in the SHU. The SHUs 
are housing units in Bureau institutions where inmates are 
securely separated from general inmate population, and may be 
housed either alone or with other inmates. Special Housing 
Units help ensure the safety, security, and orderly operation of 
correctional facilities, and protect the public, by providing 
alternative housing assignments for inmates removed from general 
population. 
Prior to placing Mr. Epstein in the SHU, we vetted several 
inmates as potential cellmates for him. There was only one 
inmate that was identified as an appropriate cellmate. The 
inmates in SHU were constantly being moved to other units, being 
transferred, or released on a daily basis. We were constantly 
monitoring the inmate population in SHU for Mr. Epstein's safety 
and potential cell mates. Based on the mission of the 
institution, the constant movement of inmates out of SHU, along 
with the number of inmates that posed a threat to his safety, 
there were no potential backup inmates to be housed with Mr. 
Epstein during the period he was housed in the SHU. 
Thank you for your time and consideration in reviewing my 
response. 
Respectfully submitted…
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