EFTA00122996.pdf

FD-302(Rev.5-8-10) -1 of 3 - FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION OFFICIAL RECORD • Date of entry 09/24/2019 On 08/30/19, Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Lieutenant date of birth (DOB) , was interviewed at the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) located at 1 Saint Andrews Plaza, New York. Present for the interview were Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent (SA) , Office of the Inspector General (OIG) SA and AUSA Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) began working for the BOP in 2004 at Fort Dix, New Jersey. eventually ended his employment with the SOP, and then later returned to the BOP as a Lieutenant. has since been assigned to various other SOP facilities, including Florence and Englewood. began working at the Manhattan Correctional Center (MCC) located at 150 Park Row, New York, NY approximately one year ago. is currently employed as a GS-11. works in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) and the Operations Unit. is sometimes assigned to SR-2 and will work in both activities and operations there. primary responsibilities while working in operations includes logging the movement of the building and managing overtime issues. also does rounds in the SHU, and goes down range to address any issues that inmates have. stated that the assigned Operations Lieutenant will visit the SHU approximately once a day and sign the signature sheet. The Lieutenant brings the signature sheet to the Captain to sign and file the sheet into the logbook. is not involved with the count in the SHU during the week unless there is an unscheduled emergency count. typical involvement with the count is limited to making sure rounds have been completed. The only shift scheduled in the SHU for a Lieutenant is the 6:00 AM until Investigationon 08/30/2019 at ne# 90A-NY-3151227 New York, New York, United States (In Person) Date drafted 09/09/2019 by This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents arc not to be distributed outside your agency. SDNY_00008044 EFTA00122996 FD-302a (Rev. 5-8-10) 90A-NY-3151227 Continuation of FD-302 of (U) Interview of BOP LT. .On 08/30/2019 Jag, 2 of 3 2:00 PM shift. There is no nighttime SHU Lieutenant scheduled at MCC. has worked at other BOP facilities where a nighttime Lieutenant is scheduled. All BOP employees are required to participate in an annual refresher training. The last training was held at 26 Federal Plaza in New York, NY. There is also quarterly training for new corrections officers assigned to the SHU and others who are mandated to attend. Suicide prevention is one of the topics discussed during the training. The training discusses the signs of suicide, and what an employee should do if an inmate attempts or successfully commits suicide. The details of these trainings are found in post orders which are displayed at MCC. had not heard about EPSTEIN until he arrived at MCC as an inmate. was not working at the time of EPSTEIN's attempted suicide, and was told about the incident afterwards. Standard practice at MCC is that if an inmate is placed on suicide watch, a cellmate will be placed with that inmate. The psychology unit gives corrections officers a hot list which lists the names of any inmates who are on suicide watch and require a cellmate. EPSTEIN was placed on suicide watch, was brought upstairs to the SHU, and discussions began about who EPSTEIN's cellmate would be. was not present at any of these meetings. Once REYES was selected to be EPSTEIN's cellmate, spoke with EPSTEIN and REYES about it and neither inmate had an issue with it. physically placed REYES into EPSTEIN's cell. [Agent's Note: At this point in the interview, was shown a printed email from AUSA stated he recalled receiving the email, which was prior to assigning REYES to be EPSTEIN's cellmate.] On 08/09/19, was assigned as the Operations Lieutenant on the 8:00 AM-4:00 PM shift, which is actually worked 6:00 AM-2:00 PM. Corrections officers during the morning watch shift knew that EPSTEIN and REYES were to be kept in the same cell. REYES was removed from EPSTEIN's cell during this shift for a court appearance and was released. A new cellmate was not immediately placed into EPSTEIN's cell. was aware of EPSTEIN being alone, and was waiting to see what inmate would be assigned as EPSTEIN's new cellmate. believed SDNY_00008045 EFTA00122997 FD-302a (Rev. 5-8-10) 90A-NY-3151227 Cominuation of FD-302 of (U) Interview of BOP LT. .On 08/30/2019 .page 3 of 3 the Captain or the psychology unit would make this assignment. did not tell any members of the relieving shift or Captain that REYES had been released from MCC, or that EPSTEIN was currently without a cellmate. did not work on 08/10/19 and heard about EPSTEIN's death on the news. explained that corrections officers travel between the ninth floor and the tenth floor of MCC via a staircase. Corrections officers can take an elevator from the ninth floor to the eleventh floor, but it does not stop at the tenth floor. The tenth floor is not a full floor, and is similar to an attic. There are bathrooms for the use of corrections officers on the ninth and tenth floors. Female corrections officers mostly use the tenth floor bathroom because it is more comfortable and private. Corrections officers pick up the house phone and have the control unit open the doors for them to access the bathroom and to complete their rounds. also explained that overtime during the nighttime shift for corrections officers in the SHU is not often sought after. This is because it requires officers to be mobile and to prepare the paperwork for the morning shift. SDNY_00008046 EFTA00122998