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The OIG Report Into Jeffrey Epstein's Death: Background On Security Cameras (Chapter 6) (Part 1) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles.
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  In this episode, we're going to pick back up with
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  the OIG report and we're going to take a look
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  at chapter six. So let's get started. Chapter six. The
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  availability of limited recorded video evidence. Due to the security
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  camera recording system failure in August twenty nineteen, the Metropolitan
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  Correctional Center, located in New York, New York, MCC new
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  York had approximately one hundred and fifty video security cameras
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  no audio placed throughout the institution. The Office of the
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  Inspector General found that approximately eleven cameras were located in
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  and around the Special Unit housing unit where Epstein was
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  confined at the time of his death on August tenth,
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  twenty nineteen, including one at the end of the l
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  tier where Epstein was housed that showed any movement in
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  or out of inmate cells and in the tears hallway.
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  In addition to broadcasting live video, MCC new York had
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  a system that recorded the live video feeds. Following Epstein's death,
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  MCC new York officials and FBI investigators attempted to review
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  video recordings related to the incident and discovered that Although
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  the security cameras were working and transmitting live video, recorded
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  video from most of the cameras in the shoe area
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  was not available due to a malfunction of the video
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  recording system that had occurred on July twenty ninth, twenty nineteen,
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  including video from the camera at the end of L Tier.
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  As a result, while the L Tier video camera was
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  transmitting a live video feed on the night of August ninth,
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  twenty nineteen, and the morning of August tenth, twenty nineteen,
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  the video was not being recorded. One of the cameras
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  that had available recordings from August ninth and tenth was
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  the camera located outside a housing unit adjacent to the shoe.
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  That camera captured video of a large part of the
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  common area of the shoe, including the shoe officer station
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  and portions of the stairways leading to the different shoe tiers,
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  including the L Tier. Thus, anyone entering or attempting to
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  enter the L Tier from the common area of the shoe,
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  including on August ninth and tenth, would have been picked
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  up by the video recorded by that camera. In addition,
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  the recording showed the shoe officer station, where the two
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  shoe staff were seated at a desk immediately outside the
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  entrance to the L tier and diagonally across from Epstein's cell,
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  which was the first cell on the right hand side
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  of the L tier Section one background on the security
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  camera system at mcc new York. All video surveillance from
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  mcc new York's cameras was connected to a DVR system.
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  The DVR system had two data storage systems that were
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  labeled DVR one and DVR two, and each consisted of
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  sixteen hard drives used for storing digital recordings. Roughly half
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  of mcc new York security cameras were assigned to record
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  to DVR one and the other half were assigned to
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  record to DVR two. Cameras assigned to DVR one only
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  recorded to the DVR one hard drives, and cameras assigned
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  to DVR two only recorded to the DVR two hard drives. Therefore,
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  if DVR one crashed, no video from the DVR two
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  assigned cameras could be retrieved from DVR one and vice versa.
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  The OIG's investigation revealed the history of camera problems at
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  mcc new York. In August twenty nineteen, the Electronics technician
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  was the only such technician at MCC new York. The
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  electronics technician told the OIG that when he began to
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  work at mcc new York in twenty sixteen, he found
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  that the facility's security camera system needed to be upgraded.
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  According to the electronics technician, the system had not properly
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  been maintained prior to his arrival. The hard drives and
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  the DVRs frequently malfunctioned and needed to be replaced, and
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  the overall system was outdated, in part because the cameras
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  were analog and not digital. The electronics technician told the
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  OIG that throughout his tenure at mcc new York, the
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  camera system was subject to frequently recurring failures, particularly with
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  the respect to the DVR hard drives. The warden, who
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  assumes his responsibilities at MCC new York in May of
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  twenty eighteen, told the OIG he was generally aware that
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  there were problems with the security camera system throughout the institution.
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  He further stated that efforts were undertaken to determine which
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  cameras were working and which needed to be fixed, and
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  that MCC new York official intended to ultimately seek funding
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  to replace the entire system. Federal Bureau of Prisons records
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  reflect that on September sixth, twenty eighteen, the warden submitted
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  a memorandum to the BP's Northeast Regional Director to request
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  eight hundred thousand dollars in funding to replace the entire
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  camera system. The memorandum identified an estimated project start date
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  of December one, twenty eighteen, and an estimated completion date
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  of February ninth, twenty nineteen. The BP approved the funding request,
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  and on September twenty first, twenty eighteen, a contract in
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  the amount of six hundred ninety eight thousand, one hundred
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  eight dollars and ninety nine cents was awarded to Company
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  one to provide various equipment for the project and associated labor.
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  On September twenty fourth, twenty eighteen, a separate contract in
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  the amount of thirty four thousand, eighty nine dollars and
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  twenty eight cents was awarded the Company two to provide
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  a sorted networking equipment and wiring needed to install the
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  camera system. As the camera upgrade project was beginning, BOP
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  officials recognized that mcc New York's mechanical, electrical and plumbing
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  systems were also in need of major repairs. MCC New
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  York did not have enough qualified technicians on staff to
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  complete both the camera installation and other repairs needed at
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  the facility, so beginning the week of March seventeenth, twenty nineteen,
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  the BOP's Northeast Regional office arranged for technicians from the
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  GOP institutions to conduct temporary duty assignments at mcc New
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  York to perform the work. During the course of the
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  TDY rotations, work was not consistently conducted on the camera
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  upgrades because sometimes TDY staff assigned to the project were
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  used to cover shortages at mcc new York's custody posts,
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  and sometimes there were not enough TDY volunteers who possessed
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  the skills required to do the camera work. At the
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  time of Epstein's death on August tenth, twenty nineteen, the
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  camera system upgrade had not been completed. Immediately following Epstein's death,
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  Company one officials arrived at mcc New York and installed
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  the new recording system within a couple of days, and
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  recording functionality was restored using the existing cameras. The majority
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  of the new cameras did not arrive to the facility
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  until October twenty nineteen, and they were installed in stages
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  as the wiring work was conducted. According to the electronics technician,
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  as of August twenty twenty one, when the MCC closed,
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  the wiring work had still not been fully completed. Part
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  two Discovery of security camera system recording issues in August
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  of twenty nineteen. Part A discovery on August eighth of
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  the DVR two failure that occurred on July twenty ninth.
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  According to forensic analysis conducted by the FBI after Epstein's death,
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  disc failures occurred in MCC New York's DVR two system
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  on July twenty ninth, twenty nineteen, which resulted in the
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  system being unable to record. According to BP records and
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  OIG interviews, the BOP did not learn about the failure
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  until August eight, twenty nineteen, when the Special Investigative Services
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  Lieutenant and Associate ward I attempted to review recorded surveillance
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  video for a matter unrelated to Epstein. The SIS lieutenant
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  told the OIG she discovered that no recorded video was
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  available for several of the institution's cameras, so she reported
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  the matter to the communications office, and the electronics technician
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  arrived to assess the problem some time before a shift
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  was scheduled to end. The electronics technician told the OIG
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  that he found that roughly half of the institutions approximately
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  one hundred and fifty cameras which were assigned to record
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  to DVR two were displaying a live video but were
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  not recording. The electronics technician told the OIG that before
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  Epstein's death, no one was specifically tasked with ensuring that
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  the video from the cameras was being recorded. The electronics
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  technician said that he therefore did not perform any daily
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  checks to ensure that the video is being recorded. The
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  warden indicated that SIS staff are usually responsible for checking
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  the system for recording functionality and reporting any problems to
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  the Communications office. However, the SIS lieutenant told the OIG
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  that it was her belief that the electronics technician should
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  have been checking the system daily to ensure it was
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  RECORDINGIG found that there are no BOP policies that specifically
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  state that institutional staff must perform periodic checks to ensure
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  the camera system is fully functional or that security camera
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  systems have the capacity to record the facility manager told
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  the OIG that since Epstein's death, he now checks to
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  ensure that all cameras and the recording system are working
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  on a daily basis, and he subsequently provides a report
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  about the status of the system to the facilities executive staff,
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  the SIS and electronics technicians. All right, folks, we're going
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  to end this episode right there, and then in the
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  next episode we're going to pick up with section B
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  of Chapter six and keep it moving. All of the
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  information that goes with the episode can be found in
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  the description box.