Transcription of EFTA00135578

[3dithKohn]

Man: "Today is Monday, August 12, the following will be a voluntary interview of VOP[?] warden [redacted] in furtherance of OIG investigation to be determined, for the purpose of transcription, I will now identify all present in the interview. I'll ask everyone to say and spell their last name, as well as identify their working title and employer, I'm special agent [bleep]." // Man 2: "[redacted], Warden, federal bureau of prisions, spelling of the name is [redacted]." \\ Man: "Thank you. Warden [redacted], you have reviewed and signed foreign justice OIG for 226-2 which is warning insurance employees to provide requested information on a voluntary basis, do you have any questions about this form?" // Man 2: "No." \\ Man: "Would you like time to review with an attorney, or would you like an attorney here?" // Man 2: "For now I don't need an attorney." \\ Man: "Ok. Are you currently under the influence of any substances or is there any reason that would prevent you from being fully understanding of my questions and answering truthfully today?" // Man 2: "No." \\ Man: "I'll now swear you to the statements you're about to make, please raise your hand and repeat after me. I [redacted] hereby solemnly swear or affirm -" // Man 2: "I hereby solemnly swear or affirm -" \\ Man: "That the statements that I'm about to make -" // Man 2: "That the statements I'm about to make -"\\ Man: "Shall be the truth and the whole truth." // Man 2: "Shall be the truth and the whole truth." \\ Man: "Thank you sir. Warden, when you [unintelligible] your career with VOP when you started it kind of became [unintelligible]." // Man 2: "I sought it out as a correctional officer and was promoted to a lieutenant, from there I went to special investigative agent at our regional office and then I went from there i was a captain, promoted to captain, and then I was associate warden, and then from there I went to DC as our chief internal affairs and now in my present position." \\ Man: "Great. How long have you been warden?" // Man 2: "I've been here since May of 2018." \\ Man: "Ok. Just - you've done a lot of internal investigations for the prison and you've worked for the department of justice for, I just have a note, for the record, you're aware that failure to be honest with us today would be considered a criminal offense, correct?" // Man 2: "Yes." \\ Man: "Ok, great. Let's talk a little bit about, let's talk a bit about some overall policies at the prison to start with. So, actually, let me back up. We're here today to talk about Jeffery Epstein, the inmate. Would you mind telling us a little bit about when, from your understanding, when he arrived and that type - when he arrived, how was placed, where he was placed and reasons behind that?" // Man 2: "I don't remember the specific date he arrived, but we didn't, what happened was, we weren't told that he was gonna be coming to the institution. When he initially came, he was dropped off on the weekend and we didn't find out til Monday myself that he had been placed at the institution. And then from then on, we, you know, went through the whole process of the screening as a matter of course, just the normal procedures that we follow." \\ Man: "Ok. Now when you say he was dropped off over the weekend, when someone arrives at the, at the facility, what's the normal -" // Man 2: "I mean typically if someone's that high profile, we should've been notified and said hey, he's coming in, we weren't. I mean, we saw it on the news but it didn't say, it just said they had him in custody but we didn't get any formal, I didn't get any formal notice that he had been brought into the institution. He was dropped off and you know, the lieutenant on shift processed him in and brought him into the institution [unintelligible] til Monday." \\ Man: "So it was Monday that you first were officially made aware?" // Man 2: "That I was made aware, you know, we found out, and I don't remember if it was from looking at the news reports we put it together that he had been brought into the institution, went through our Monday morning meeting that we went through, so that's - " \\ Man: "When he first arrived, was he placed in general population, do you know where he was placed?" // Man 2: "I don't recall where he was placed when he came in." \\ Man: "At some point he was placed in a special housing unit known as the SHU, what, how do you end up there?" // Man 2: "Well he was a new commitment, he was high profile, so we placed him in the special housing so we could further evaluate his status, you know, is he ready for general population, and we do that with all inmates, you know, to see, ok, any separation issues, any threats to him before we put him out there in general population." \\ Man: "Was he ever in general population?" // Man 2: "I don't recall, I'm not sure, it might've been the first day when he came in, I'm not sure, so I mean I would have to look at the 37 to, to confirm." \\ Man: "But as far as you know, that Monday, the first business day that you were back, that after the weekend he was initially dropped off, from that point forward was he ever in general population?" // Man 2: "No." \\ Man: "What are the policies in terms of, or is there policies that dictates when somebody goes into general population from the SHU after their first arrival?" // Man 2: "Well what we do is we evaluate the individual to see if they're ready for general population, if they can hang, you know, if they can populate. And it's a number of factors, it depends. If I have a gang member coming in, I'm taking into consideration separation issues and all that, if it's, you know, somebody that might've been a fraud, a bank fraud, then, you know, we determine if it's any issues with them going into general population. It's a case-by-case basis how we determine it." \\ Man: "Ok. Are you, what are the policies in terms of when you're notified if someone leaves, is, enters the special housing unit, or is discharged from the special housing unit?" // Man 2: "Well what it is is, it's routed, the individual is called the release forms so several people sign it, they review it. I believe psychology, CMC[?] the captain then it goes to the social warden and then they sign the, what we call it is a kick out. Meaning everybody's reviewed it and said ok this person's appropriate for general population." \\ Man: "Ok. For Mr. Epstein he was, after that, he was never put into general population, correct?" // Man 2: "No." \\ Man: "Who, what was the determination to keep him in special - what's the communication that goes on there?" // Man 2: "Well we, now initially when he came in, it's the goal to determine ok, can they go to general population. So between evaluating him, at the same time we're looking at saying ok can he go to general population. So it's a dual path that we, it's a dual road that we're going down. I had gotten word, and I don't recall the date, where from my regional director who stated he's not to go to general population until further notice." \\ Man: "The regional director, that's, where's that in the chain of command for VOP?" // Man 2: "He, we have five regional offices, each region has a regional director, this is the northeast region where we have 21 institutions so he supervises, in charge of the 21 institutions." \\ Man: "Ok, so he, is he your direct supervisor?" // Man 2: "He's my direct supervisor." \\ Man: "Ok. Was that [bleep]?" // Man 2: "Yeah." \\ Man: "And Mr. Ormont[?] told you, was it do you recall, verbally or email, phone call?" // Man 2: "We talked about it too but I would have to check if it was an email to go with it but we did talk and said, hey, we gonna hold off on putting him in to general population." \\ Man: "Ok. What - do you have a - do you recall when you officially - when you and Mr. Ormont[?] spoke about this?" // Man 2: "I don't want to give you the wrong date. But it was within that, you know, maybe a couple weeks after he arrived." \\ Man: "Ok. So it was a few weeks after he arrived?" // Man 2:"Right." \\ Man: "Ok. After Mr. Ormont[?] told you to keep him, or it was agreed upon, to keep him in the special housing unit, who did you notify that he was to stay in the special housing unit, how does that -" // Man 2: "So what it does, I get my exec staff together, which is my associate warden, the captain, my exec, and I, we have our meetings and I tell him, he's not, you know, I lay out the specific instructions, he's not to go out to general population. And that's basically how it was started." \\ Man: "Ok. Were there any other specific directions or instructions given to the staff regarding him?" // Man 2: "Well we, so at the time of him staying in there, we had to find him initially a roommate. So, and it's hard especially in special housing, when you've got gang members in there that are not appropriate to be housed with him, so we came up with, came up with Tartaglione who was in there. White male, probably be able to cope with him and that's typically how we, you know, that's part of the evaluation process." \\ Man: "Is it standard for inmates in special housing unit to have cellmates?" // Man 2: "We typically would like for them to have it but certain situations dictate that they can't if an inmate's in total separation from a group and we get word from US attorneys office or the arresting agent that hey, he's to be totally separated then they'd be housed by themselves. They can have an incident in the institution, you know for example our gang members, somebody has an issue and with like, for example, the bloods, then we have to say hey let's separate him from them, you know." \\ Man: "Were there any directions specifically that Mr. Epstein was to have a cell mate at all times?" // Man 2: "From psychology when we would say hey that he's required he needs to have a cell mate at all times -" \\ Man: "Ok. And that occured later on? When he first arrived there was no specific direction regarding that, correct?" // Man 2: "No, it wasn't. Wait let me - you mean when he first came in were we talking about him having a cell mate?" \\ Man: "Initially." // Man 2: "I don't recall any talks about him initially and trying to figure out when he first came in how he was housed - I don't recall how he was housed when he first came in." \\ Man: "Ok. The MCC is no stranger to high profile inmates. Generally speaking, how do you normally or generally handle these type of high profile inmates - are there any other special considerations, concerns, how does this work?" // Man 2: "Again, we come in, we evaluate then determine if ok, they can go out to general population or not, we've had a, you know, we've had a bunch that come in we're able to, I mean we had [unintelligible] the one that, i don't know if you recall, the one that sent the bombs to the ex presidents. Him. So when he first came in, he was high profile so we brought him in to determine - " \\ Female: "[unintelligible]" // Man: "Pausing the interview at 10:55 a.m."

https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/D ... 135578.m4a