Charles Homans

The special housing unit is a sort of solitary confinement wing of the MCC.

It is a very isolated place.

The inmates are stuck in their cells 23 hours a day.

And it's used to house people for a number of reasons.

But this includes some of the people accused of very, very serious crimes and violent crimes.

So Epstein is led into his new cell and he's introduced to his cellmate, who's this guy named Nicholas Tartaglione.

And the door closes behind him.

Epstein asks Tartaglione what he's in for.

And Tartaglione replies, multiple homicides.

And at this point, Epstein turns around and starts banging on the door and demands to be let out of the cell.

Exactly.

But the fact that Epstein was put with Tartaglione reflects this sort of counterintuitive prison warden logic, which is that people who have been accused of very serious crimes

violent crimes on the outside while they're awaiting trial are actually very unlikely to commit further violent crimes.

But somebody like Tartaglione, who's facing the death penalty at this point, has every incentive not to kill somebody like Jeffrey Epstein in prison.

So that at sentencing... The theory is that if he behaves well while he's awaiting trial, that could be factored into his sentencing and he could avoid the death penalty.

But for the wardens in this situation, the goal is not just to find a cellmate who's not going to kill Epstein.

The goal is to find a cellmate who is going to keep Epstein from hurting himself.

From the time they kind of realize who they've got on their hands here, this is a question that they're asking.

Because of the nature of the charges that he's facing, there's sort of an automatic assessment for suicide risk that kicks in early on in his time in jail.

And