(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Officials at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was incarcerated at the time of his mysterious death, learned that surveillance cameras were malfunctioning the day before Epstein died—but did little to rectify the situation.
That’s according to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s much-anticipated report on millionaire pedophile Epstein’s Aug. 9, 2019, death, which was released Tuesday.
Horowitz said in his report that the surveillance cameras around Epstein’s cell were antiquated analogue devices that were supposed to be stored on digital servers. But some time in late July, most of the cameras stopped recording—though they did continue to provide live video streams through the day Epstein died.
According to Horowitz, MCC officials learned of the malfunctions on Aug. 8, 2019, hours before Epstein’s death.
“MCC New York personnel determined that the DVR 2 system needed to be rebuilt to restore recording functionality. Despite the lack of recording functionality, this repair was not completed until after Epstein’s death,” the inspector general said.
Horowitz said his staff interviewed an MCC technician, who started to repair the cameras on Aug. 8, 2019, but did not finish his work. The technician told the inspector general he had “no idea” why he did not stay at the facility to resolve the problem that day.
“But he noted for the OIG that he had not historically been required to stay after his shift ended to work on such matters, and even if he had begun working on the DVR that day, he would not have completed the work on August 8 due to the time the rebuilding process takes,” Horowitz said.
Horowitz also said the technician’s immediate supervisor, the facility manager, was on leave that week and therefore was not told on Aug. 8 about the DVR recording failure. Another high-ranking prison official was told about the problematic cameras, too, but he thought the technician was going to fix the problem.
“The Electronics Technician told the OIG there must have been some miscommunication because he did not say he was going to work overtime and resolve the problem that same evening since he knew the problem could not be fixed in one evening,” Horowitz said. “The Electronics Technician told the OIG that, in hindsight, he should have stayed at the institution to begin work on the problem that same day.”
The technician was going to fix the cameras again on Aug. 9, 2019, but he did not have access to the DVR room.
He finally obtained access to that room around 6 a.m. on Aug. 10, but he was interrupted by a “body alarm”—the prison guards had finally discovered Epstein dead in his cell, allegedly from hanging himself the night before.
The FBI’s forensic team later took the surveillance equipment, but was unable to retrieve most of the contents, according to Horowitz.
“The Digital Forensics Analysis Unit found that the system contained three faulty hard drives,” the inspector general said. “The FBI forensic reports state that the three drives were repaired by an FBI Advanced Data Recovery Specialist, but the DVR was never able to be assembled successfully.”
Horowitz also noted in his report that the Bureau of Prisons had contracted a company to replace MCC’s entire surveillance system for more than $730,000 in 2018.
But the work still wasn’t complete by August 2021, and the MCC was “temporarily” shuttered in October of that year.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
