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Chapter 6: The Availability of Limited Recorded Video Evidence Due to the Security Camera Recording System Failure
In August 2019, the Metropolitan Correctional Center located in New York, New York (MCC New York) had approximately 150 video security cameras (no audio) placed throughout the institution. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that approximately 11 cameras were located in and around the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where Epstein was confined at the time of his death on August 10, 2019, including one at the end of the L Tier where Epstein was housed that showed any movement in or out of inmate cells and in the Tier's hallway. In addition to broadcasting live video, MCC New York had a system that recorded the live video feeds. Following Epstein's death, MCC New York officials and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators attempted to review video recordings related to the incident and discovered that, although the security cameras were working and transmitting live video, recorded video from most of the cameras in the SHU area was not available due to a malfunction of the video recording system that had occurred on July 29, 2019, including video from the camera at the end of the L Tier. As a result, while the L Tier video camera was transmitting a live video feed on the night of August 9, 2019, and morning of August 10, 2019, the video was not being recorded. One of the cameras that had available recordings from August 9 and 10 was a camera located outside a housing unit adjacent to the SHU. That camera captured video of a large part of the common area of the SHU, including the SHU Officers' Station and portions of the stairways leading to the different SHU tiers, including the L Tier. Thus, anyone entering or attempting to enter the L Tier from the common area of the SHU, including on August 9 and 10, would have been picked up by the video recorded by that camera. In addition, the recordings showed the SHU Officers' Station where the two SHU staff were seated at a desk immediately outside the entrance to the L Tier and diagonally across from Epstein's cell, which was the first cell on the righthand side of the L Tier.
I. Background on the Security Camera System at MCC New York
All video surveillance from MCC New York's cameras was connected to a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) system. The DVR system had two data storage systems that were labeled "DVR 1" and "DVR 2," and each consisted of 16 hard drives used for storing digital recordings. Roughly half of MCC New York's security cameras were assigned to record to DVR 1, and the other half were assigned to record to DVR 2. Cameras assigned to DVR 1 only recorded to the DVR 1 hard drives, and cameras assigned to DVR 2 only recorded to the DVR 2 hard drives. Therefore, if DVR 2 crashed, no video from the DVR 2-assigned cameras could be retrieved from DVR 1, and vice versa.
The OIG's investigation revealed a history of camera problems at MCC New York. In August 2019, the Electronics Technician was the only such technician at MCC New York. The Electronics Technician told the OIG that when he began work at MCC New York in 2016, he found that the facility's security camera system needed to be upgraded. According to the Electronics Technician, the system had not been properly maintained prior to his arrival, the hard drives in the DVRs frequently malfunctioned and needed to be replaced, and the overall system was outdated, in part because the cameras were analog and not digital.