A Bureau of Prisons After-Action team shredded vast quantities of paperwork at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York just six days after Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 death. Team members enlisted at least two inmates to help dispose of the shredded documents in a dumpster.
Corrections Officer’s Account
An FBI crisis intake form, dated August 16, 2019, captures a federal corrections officer’s report of the incident. The officer, who contacted the FBI by phone, described an unprecedented volume of shredded document bags transported to the MCC’s rear gate dumpster.
The officer noted never having seen “this amount of bags of shredded documents” during prior operations. With Epstein’s death—ruled a suicide—still under active investigation, the After-Action team arrived to review events but instead focused on document destruction.
Suspicious Disposal Process
One inmate transported four or five bags of shredded papers to the gate, where the officer assisted in loading them into the dumpster. The inmate informed the officer that the team was shredding “huge amounts of paperwork.”
Officials instructed the inmate, “Make sure you get that box too.” The officer deemed the shredding suspicious, given the presence of assistant inspector general staff, FBI agents, and Bureau of Prisons personnel amid the ongoing probe.
Broader Justice Department Context
The Bureau of Prisons operates under the Department of Justice, which during the first Trump administration reportedly directed New York Police Department investigators to stand down in their Epstein probe five days post-death.
Separately, the DOJ urged the New Mexico Department of Justice to pause its investigation into Epstein’s Zorro Ranch property, alleged in an FBI tip to be the burial site of two foreign girls.
