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a part of his job, and he would allow inmates to place telephone calls if they were unable to make calls under ordinary circumstances. The Unit Manager told the OIG that at approximately 6:45 p.m., he and Senior Officer Specialist 1 escorted Epstein from the attorney conference room to the SHU so that Epstein could place a telephone call. The Unit Manager said he put Epstein in the shower area to make the telephone call because COs were present in that area. The Unit Manager explained that he also chose the shower area because that location ensured Epstein would not be able to pull the phone cord into his cell and use it to harm himself. The Unit Manager said he plugged the telephone line into the legal line, which was not recorded, and dialed the telephone number that Epstein provided. As noted above, the number that was dialed was in the local 646 area code. The Unit Manager said he allowed Epstein to place the telephone call on the unrecorded legal line because he believed that Epstein had not set up his Inmate Telephone System account that would have allowed him to call on the institutions recorded lines. According to the Unit Manager, a male answered, and the Unit Manager handed the receiver to Epstein. The Unit Manager heard Epstein say, “Hey, how are you doing? How's everything?” The Unit Manager admitted that he should have verified who was on the line, as Epstein had requested to make a telephone call to speak with his mother, and it was a male who answered the phone. The Unit Manager said he could not verify the phone number because he believed that Epstein did not have his Inmate Telephone System account set up, and he did not have any phone numbers associated with his account. The Unit Manager told the OIG that after he handed the telephone to Epstein, his shift ended so he left the SHU and left MCC New York for the day. The Unit Manager said that when he left the SHU, Epstein was still on the call and the Evening Watch SHU Officer in Charge and Noel were at the officers’ desk, and that Senior Officer Specialist 1 was also present. According to the Unit Manager, when he was leaving, he told the officers, “Hey, make sure he gets his 15- minutes, and after that, he’s done.” The Unit Manager said he did not provide the SHU staff with instructions to monitor the call. He said that after he left, he contacted Noel on the SHU telephone and asked her to make sure that Epstein’s call had ended because his time was up. The Unit Manager acknowledged that he did not stay and monitor the call as he should have done. The Unit Manager said the proper way to have an inmate place a telephone call on an unmonitored line would be to bring the inmate out and place him in a belly chain because then he would be handcuffed in the front. The Unit Manager said he should have provided Epstein with the phone, with a counselor or unit team member present, and placed the call on speaker so the call was monitored. The OIG investigation determined that Epstein did not, in fact, speak with his mother, who, according to public records, died in 2004. The OIG found that Epstein actually spoke with Individual 1, who declined to be interviewed by the OIG.*? Individual 1’s lawyer told the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York during an attorney proffer that Individual 1 spoke with Epstein on August 9, 2019, at about 7 p.m., for approximately 20 minutes. Individual 1's attorney proffer was that Individual 1 was in the country of Belarus at the time of the call.** Individual 1’s attorney told the U.S. Attorney's Office that during the 33 The OIG does not have the authority to compel or subpoena testimony from individuals who are not Department of Justice employees. * The OIG did not investigate the factual accuracy of this proffer. We note that there are methods by which a call to the 646 area code could connect to a telephone in Belarus. 59 DOJ-OGR- 00023426