Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / The Night of No Checks, No Cameras, and No Cellmate: Breaking Down Epstein’s “Suicide” (Part 2)

Transcript

The Night of No Checks, No Cameras, and No Cellmate: Breaking Down Epstein’s “Suicide” (Part 2) · The Epstein Chronicles

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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  Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to dive back
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  in to why Jeffrey Epstein's death points more to murder
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  than to suicide. If Jeffrey Epstein was indeed murdered or
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  assisted in suicide while in federal custody, it would have
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  required a stunning breakdown or subversion of normal jail procedures.
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  In this regard, the circumstances at the Metropolitan Correctional Center
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  on the night of Epstein's death read like a list
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  of everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Even
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  officials who accept the suicide ruling have described the situation
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  as a perfect storm of screw ups, such as inadequate monitoring.
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  By policy. Inmates in the special housing unit should be
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  checked by guards at least every thirty minutes during the night.
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  On the night of August ninth, twenty nineteen, this protocol
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  was egregiously violated. Two correctional officers, Tovi Noel and Michael
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  Thomas were on duty in the Shoe Yeah. Court records
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  and surveillance evidence indicate they did not perform any checks
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  on Epstein from approximately ten thirty PM until six thirty
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  am instead, as Federal prosecutor Is later revealed the guard's
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  browsey internet and even fell asleep during their shift. They
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  then falsified the log entries to make it appear as
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  if they'd made their rounds. This left Epstein completely unobserved
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  for about eight hours, an enormous window of time in
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  which foul play or a suicide could occur and witnessed.
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  Both officers were charged with record falsification and later admitted
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  to fabricating the logs. However, after cooperating with investigators, their
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  criminal charges were dropped under a deferred prosecution agreement. The
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  quiet resolution of those cases in twenty twenty one without
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  a public trial has its self raised some eyebrows among
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  conspiracy minded observers. How about the camera blind spots and malfunctions.
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  The JEL security camera system also fell that a critical moment,
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  MCC's camera on Epstein's tier was not recording properly on
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  the night in question, due to a technical malfunction that
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  had occurred eleven days earlier on July twenty ninth. In fact,
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  as prison staff belatedly discovered on August eighth, the gel's
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  digital video recorder system was broken in a way that
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  left roughly half the cameras inoperative for recording. They still
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  showed live feeds because this was not fixed before Epstein's death.
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  The only footage of the Shoe that night comes from
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  one stationary camera in a common area. That camera's view
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  did not include Epstein's cell door or the interior of
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  the tier whereas cell was located. It did, however, capture
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  the entry point to that tier. Investigators who reviewed the
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  video say that no one is seen approaching or entering
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  Epstein's range of cell overnight. However, we now know that
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  that's not the case, as new video has been revealed,
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  but due to the camera angle on the old one
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  there remains a blind spot. Movements at Epstein's actual cell door,
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  just out of frame, are not visible. In essence, the
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  functioning camera could verify that no outsiders came through the
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  main door of the Shoe unit, but could not show
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  what happened just outside Epstein's cell in the hallway, nor
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  of course, inside the cell. CBS News reports that the
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  camera which should have covered Epstein's cell and the neighboring
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  doors was corrupted the night of Epstein's death. The lost
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  or non recorded footage from that crucial vantage point has
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  been a focus of intense suspicion. Even Attorney General Bill
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  Barr conceded that the camera situation had a bit of
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  a blind spot, an unfortunate gap he acknowledged might make
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  people suspicious. The next issue was suicide watch and cellmate removal.
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  Proper procedure for a recently suicidal inmate like Epstein would
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  include heightened safeguards, yet those were relaxed or ignored. Epstein
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  had been taken off suicide Watch just days before his
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  death to right the incident. On July twenty third. Upon
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  ending the watch, prison psychologists directed that Epstein must never
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  be left alone in his cell and should have a
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  cell mate at all times. Tragically, this directive was not followed.
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  On August ninth, the day before Epstein's death, jail staff
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  allowed Epstein's cell mate to be transferred to another facility
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  and did not replace them with a new roommate. That evening,
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  Epstein was alone in his cell, in violation of the
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  explicit instructions meant to protect them. To make matters worse,
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  guards also allowed Epstein a lengthy, on monitored phone call
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  on the evening of August ninth, which was against regulations
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  for a high risk inmate. All of these lapses effectively
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  set the stage for a disaster. Epstein was isolated, unobserved,
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  and had the means to harm himself or be harmed
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  the excessive betting in the cell. Investigators later found that
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  Epstein's cell contained a surplus of linens and clothing far
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  more than should have been allowed. Some of these items
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  had been torn into strips, presumably to fashion and makeshift. Wrote.
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  Only one properly documented search of the SHU was conducted
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  on August ninth, and it was not of Epstein's cell.
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  In fact, records did not show when Epstein's cell was
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  last searched at all prior to his death. The abundance
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  of material available to him or an attacker or in
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  jumpsuits bedsheets provided the tools to create ligatures. Allowing a
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  high profile prisoner who had recently been on suicide watch
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  to accumulate such potential news material was another glaring protocol
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  failure cited by the OIG. All told, the gel's failures
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  were so extreme that many find it hard to believe
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  that it was a coincidence. As sixty minutes correspondent Sharon
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  Alfonsi remarked, Epstein's taken off suicide watch the day before
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  he kills himself. His roommate is removed, the cameras on
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  his tier are not working, the guards fell asleep. It
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  seems almost impossible to think all these things could happen
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  in that way. It's the convert urgence of multiple simultaneous lapses,
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  human error and mechanical failure that underpins much of the
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  murder speculation. Former Federal Warden Cameron Lindsay told Sixty Minutes
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  that the situation represented a monumental failure on all levels.
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  For opponents of the murder theory go further, They suggest
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  these failures were not accidental at all. The theory holds
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  that someone orchestrated the conditions by influencing staff or otherwise
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  to ensure Epstein would be left vulnerable. In their view,
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  the inactive cameras and absent guards were not mere negligence,
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  but part of a deliberate setup to eliminate a valuable prisoner. Now,
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  it should be noted that official investigations did result in
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  administrative action. The mcc warden was reassigned, staff were disciplined,
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  and the BOP acknowledged severe misconduct and incompetence at the facility.
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  The Department of Justice Inspector General in twenty twenty three
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  confirmed numerous and serious failures by gel And staff and leadership. However,
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  the same report maintained these failures, while providing Jeffrey Epstein
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  the opportunity to take his own life, did not prove
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  anyone helped him do it. Detractors remain unconvinced. The sear
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  and probability of so many concurrent errors has led even
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  some US officials to wonder aloud if foul play was afoot.
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  In a Senate hearing two months after the death, Senator
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  Lindsey Graham pressed the Bureau of Prisons director on the matter, saying,
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  with the case as high profile, there has got to
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  be either a major malfunction of the system or a
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  criminal enterprise at foot to allow this to happen. The director,
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  Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, admitted that the FBI was indeed looking
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  at criminal enterprise as a possibility in Epstein's death. While
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  the FBI ultimately reported finding no such evidence, the mere
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  fact that authorities considered the prospect of a coordinated plot
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  speaks to how extraordinary Epstein's Gelhouse demise was now look,
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  any murder theory required there is a motive, and here
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  Epstein's unique social web comes into play. Epstein wasn't just
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  any inmate. He was a man who knew secrets about
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  the rich and the powerful, a jet setting financier with
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  ties to politicians, royalty, and celebrities. This has led to
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  widespread belief that Epstein had enemies who wanted them silenced.
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  The core suspicion is that someone with influence, fearing what
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  Epstein might divulge about them, arranged to have him killed
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  before he could cut a deal or testify. Reports emerged
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  that during his few weeks in jail, Epstein himself harbored
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  fear of being targeted. According to sources cited by Sixty Minutes,
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  Epstein was so concerned for his safety behind bars that
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  he began paying off other inmates commissary accounts in exchange
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  for protection. I don't believe that. Sorry to interrupt, but
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  I don't believe it. If he was isolated, how did
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  that happen? He wasn't in GP, unless you mean he
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  was paying Nicholas Tartaglione's commissary. The fact that Epstein a
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  man accustomed to luxury and control felt the need to
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  effectively higher bodyguards in jail, suggests he believed someone might
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  try to harm him. This aligns with what Epstein allegedly
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  said after the July twenty third incident. Initially, he claimed
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  that his injuries came from his burly cellmate, a former
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  police officer named Nicholas Tartaglioni, trying to kill him, Although
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  Epstein later changed his story and Tartaglioni denied any conflict,
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  with officials finding no evidence of an assault, Epstein's first
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  instinct was to suspect an enemy's hand in his misfortune.
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  His brother Mark Epstein has pointed out that Jeffrey never
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  admitted to being suicidal and was focused on fighting his case,
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  implying that Jeffrey would have never willingly ended his life
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  to mark. The presence of threats and Jeffrey's own statements
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  mean murder is far more plausible than suicide. Epstein's ongoing
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  legal troubles at the time of his death posed an
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  existential threat not only to himself, but potentially to others.
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  In July of twenty nineteen, federal prosecutors had reopened and
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  expanded the criminal case against Epstein, and there was rampant
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  speculation that Epstein might cooperate with authorities to lessen his sentence.
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  This could have meant naming co conspirators or prominent clients
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  of his alleged sex trafficking ring. Indeed, the day before
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  Epstein died, a dramatic development bolstered this theory. On August ninth,
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  twenty nineteen, a federal court unsealed roughly two thousand pages
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  of documents from a prior civil lawsuit by one of
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  Epstein's accusers. Those documents, depositions and records from a defamation
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  case involving Epstein's associate, Glen Maxwell, contained explosive allegations naming
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  powerful individuals as participants in Epstein's exploits. For the first time,
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  the public saw former US politicians, foreign leaders, and business
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  elites explicitly accused by name. Among the revelations a victim's
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  testimony alleging Epstein and Maxwell had directed her to have
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  sexual relations with figures such as former New Mexico Governor
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  Bill Richardson and former US Senator George Mitchell, among others.
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  The documents also included details of Epstein's connections two figures
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  like Prince Andrew, former President Bill Clinton, and even Donald Trump.
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  None of these men were charged in Epstein's twenty nineteen case,
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  but the unsealed court files thrust their names into the
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  scandal spotlight. The timing was striking, as one observer equipped
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  on August ninth, twenty nineteen, a lot of important people
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  are going to have a really bad weekend. Less than
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  twenty four hours later, Epstein was dead. All right, folks,
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  we're going to wrap up right here and in the
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  next episode dealing with the topic, we're going to pick
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  up where we left off. All of the information that
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  goes with this episode can be found in the description box.