MCC Corrections Officer Michael Thomas And His OIG Interview Related To Epstein's Death (Part 10) (3/3/26)
Mar 5, 2026
A detailed interview centers on a corrections officer’s duties, documentation practices, and why required overnight rounds and counts were missed. The conversation examines specific signed count slips, how shift paperwork is handled, and staffing and fatigue as possible causes. Investigators probe procedures for calling control and organizing tier records.
13:20
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Rounds Versus Counts Are Different Tasks
Rounds and counts are distinct duties with separate documentation.
Thomas explains rounds verify an inmate is alive while counts are called into the control center as one overall shoe number, not per tier.
insights INSIGHT
Shared Responsibility But Single Signatures Blur Accountability
Two officers share responsibility but documentation practices blur accountability.
Thomas says both must sign count slips while a single signature on round sheets can stand for both officers.
insights INSIGHT
Counts Are Verified By Calling CNA With One Shoe Number
Counts are verified by calling the control center's CNA, using a single overall shoe number.
Thomas explains you call CNA who has a sheet and confirms the overall count rather than tier-by-tier numbers.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Michael Thomas was a veteran correctional officer employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan — a federal detention facility — where Jeffrey Epstein was being held in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. Thomas had been with the Bureau of Prisons since about 2007 and, on the night of Epstein’s death (August 9–10, 2019), was assigned to an overnight shift alongside another officer, Tova Noel, responsible for conducting required 30-minute inmate checks and institutional counts in the SHU. Because Epstein’s cellmate had been moved and not replaced, Epstein was alone in his cell, making regular monitoring all the more crucial under bureau policy.
Thomas became a focal figure in the official investigations into Epstein’s death because surveillance footage and institutional records showed that neither he nor Noel conducted the required rounds or counts through the night before Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell early on August 10. Prosecutors subsequently charged both officers with conspiracy and falsifying records for signing count slips that falsely indicated they had completed rounds they had not performed. Thomas and Noel later entered deferred prosecution agreements in which they admitted falsifying records and avoided prison time, instead receiving supervisory release and community service. Investigators concluded that chronic staffing shortages and procedural failures at the jail contributed to the circumstances that allowed Epstein to remain unmonitored for hours before his death, which was officially ruled a suicide by hanging.
The Vault: The Epstein Files