To stop an inmate on suicide watch, what good would it do to have a surveillance camera recording the OUTSIDE of the cell door?
Purposes filming the outside of the cell door:
1) Document when jailers checked the cell. Who. When.
2) Document that the inmate did not leave the cell.
It’s all forensic CYA for when something goes wrong.
To intervene before an inmate successfully killed himself would require continual surveillance OF THE INMATE. Those who plan and run jails would know this — Epstein wasn’t their first suicidal inmate.
That is all well and good, but the cell block Epstein was in, the doors of the other inmates were unlocked. They could move between cells freely at that time. The only locked door was to exit the cell block.