The rural Mississippi jail that was the scene of an escape involving two murder suspects earlier this month had surveillance camera issues at the time, ABC News has learned.
“The DVR system that records the surveillance footage has been down for several weeks,” Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Christy Sykes told ABC News via email. “I should clarify that there is no video of the escape itself.”
The escape occurred around 2:20 a.m. July 5 at the Claiborne County Detention Center in Port Gibson, about an hour’s drive southwest of Jackson.
WAPT, an ABC affiliate based in Jackson, reported at the time that Dezarrious Johnson, 18, and Tyrekennel Collins, 24, were being held on murder charges in other Mississippi counties. They were released the next day to an abandoned home.
“Our investigations have revealed that the escape did occur through the ceiling and then outside the wall, but these conclusions were drawn from physical evidence and witness statements rather than video recordings,” Mr Sykes said. “Our surveillance system had been down for a number of weeks.”
In these booking photos released by the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department, Tyrekennel Collins and Dezarrious Johnson are pictured.
Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department
The lack of surveillance footage was revealed after ABC News filed a request under Mississippi’s public records law seeking recordings of the escape.
Sykes has yet to respond to questions asking when the camera issues began and whether they have since been resolved.
