NEW YORK — A Justice Department watchdog urged the Bureau of Prisons to fix its shoddy surveillance cameras Thursday, alluding to the shoddy security system that failed to capture Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide.
While the report published by the Office of the Inspector General did not specifically cite the multimillionaire sex offender’s death in August 2019 at Manhattan’s now-shuttered federal jail, it made obvious references to his hanging as correctional officers neglected their duties.
“The OIG also has been investigating numerous instances of BOP staff falsifying time logs, including in incidents involving inmate deaths and other situations in which inmates have caused harm to themselves or others but no staff was present to intervene,” the report reads. “In some of these cases, cameras have been essential to proving the falsification allegations. However, the lack of camera coverage or poor-quality video has hindered other cases, undermining accountability and enhancing the threat to inmate health and safety.”
Two correctional officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center filed false paperwork stating they conducted their required rounds the night Epstein killed himself — but surveillance footage showed they were actually snoozing through their shifts. The two officers admitted wrongdoing as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the feds.
Cameras outside Epstein’s cell when he killed himself malfunctioned and footage from Epstein’s suicide attempt a month earlier was destroyed, prosecutors admitted, highlighting glaring security lapses in the MCC camera system.
Such issues make investigations into crimes behind bars exceedingly difficult, the inspector general found. The problems exist in federal lockups around the country — not just in MCC.
“These deficiencies have negatively impacted the OIG’s investigations and ability to secure prosecution of serious incidents in BOP institutions... even inmate deaths,” the report said. “They also have inevitably affected other law enforcement agency investigations, including those of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the BOP’s Office of Internal Affairs.
The watchdog suggested that the BOP develop a plan to transition to a fully digital camera system. The report found that 86% of the federal prison system’s cameras are still analog or use old technology that produce low-quality video.
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