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moved by medical staff to the MCC New York Health Service Unit.’ The Clinical Nurse continuously
administered CPR until he was relieved by outside Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) when they arrived
at the Health Services Area minutes later. The EMTs continued CPR, intubated Epstein, and administered
medication and fluids in their efforts to revive him. At approximately 7:10 a.m., Epstein was transported by
the EMTs in an ambulance to New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, where he was pronounced
dead by an emergency room physician at 7:36 a.m. On August 11, 2019, the Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner, City of New York, performed an autopsy on Epstein and determined that the cause of death was
hanging and the manner of death was suicide.
The OIG conducted this investigation jointly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with the OIG’s
investigative focus being the conduct of BOP personnel. Among other things, the FBI investigated the cause
of Epstein’s death. The FBI determined that there was no criminality pertaining to how Epstein had died.
This report concerns the OIG's findings regarding MCC New York personnel’s custody, care, and supervision
of Epstein during his detention at the facility from his arrest on July 6, 2019, until his death on
August 10, 2019.
The OIG investigation and review identified numerous and serious failures by MCC New York staff, as well as
multiple violations of MCC New York and BOP policies and procedures. Among the most significant was the
failure to assign Epstein a new cellmate on August 9, 2019, after Epstein’s cellmate was transferred out of
MCC New York that day. Epstein was required to have a cellmate at all times pursuant to a written direction
that the MCC New York Psychology Department issued on July 30 after Epstein was removed from suicide
watch and psychological observation following a possible attempted suicide by him on July 23. As a result of
the failure to assign him a new cellmate, Epstein was housed alone in his cell from the night of August 9
until he was found hanged in his cell by SHU staff at approximately 6:30 a.m. the following morning. In
addition, we determined that SHU staff failed to conduct required inmate counts and rounds, including
overnight on August 9-10, and allowed Epstein to have an excess of blankets, linens, and clothing in his cell.
These failures compromised Epstein’s safety, the safety of other inmates, and the security of the institution,
and provided Epstein an opportunity to commit suicide while locked alone in his cell on the morning of
August 10 without having been subject to overnight observation or supervision by SHU staff.
The OIG also found that an MCC New York supervisor had allowed Epstein, in violation of BOP policy, to
make an unrecorded, unmonitored telephone call the evening before his death to an individual with whom
he allegedly had a personal relationship. Further, 2 days before his death, during a meeting with his lawyers
in a private room at the MCC New York, Epstein signed a new Last Will and Testament, which MCC New York
officials did not learn about until after his death.
Additionally, the OIG determined that MCC New York staff assigned to the SHU, including the two SHU staff
on duty the night of August 9-10, 2019, who were stationed at a desk that was directly outside the SHU tier
in which Epstein was housed and diagonally across from Epstein’s cell, had falsified BOP records to claim
1 Moving an inmate requiring outside emergency medical care to the Health Services Unit provides health care staff and
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) with immediate access to any necessary medical equipment and supplies and
allows EMTs faster access to the inmate when they arrive at MCC New York because Correctional Officers (CO) can
directly escort EMTs to the Health Services Unit to begin emergency treatment immediately. If EMTs had to be escorted
to the housing unit, they would first need to be thoroughly screened, which would delay medical attention.
DOJ-OGR- 00023369
Extracted Information
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00023369.tif |
| File Size | 71.4 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 95.2% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 4,055 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 20:37:23.179581 |