6 escaped New Orleans jail inmates still at large; video shows some in French Quarter
A manhunt for the inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet entered its fifth day on Tuesday. Six of the 10 men remained at large as of Tuesday afternoon.
Officials have underscored multiple security lapses, and a maintenance worker at the jail was arrested and accused of helping the inmates escape.
During a tense New Orleans City Council meeting on Tuesday, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, who oversees the jail, said she "takes full accountability" for the escape.
"There were procedural failures and missed notifications, but there were also intentional wrongdoings — this was a coordinated effort aided by individuals inside our own agency who made the choice to break the law," Hutson said. "We are continuing to pursue everyone involved."
Later on Tuesday, Hutson announced she was temporarily suspending her reelection campaign, saying, in part: "Now is the time to focus on security, accountability, and public safety."
New Orleans jail escape update
Louisiana state police announced the arrest of inmate Gary C. Price on Monday, bringing the total to four apprehensions so far.
Price, 21, was originally incarcerated for attempted first-degree murder, domestic abuse and aggravated assault, state police said, adding that additional charges may be forthcoming.
Police used surveillance video with facial recognition to help catch another inmate, CBS News' Kati Weis reports. The video showed two of the inmates, including 20-year-old Kendell Myles, walking through New Orleans' French Quarter on Friday hours after breaking free. Myles was arrested after being found hiding under a car, officials said.
The other two inmates who have been captured were identified as 21-year-old Robert Moody and 24-year-old Dkenan Dennis.
The recaptured inmates were taken to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections said.
Who are the inmates that escaped?
The men range from 19 years old to 42, and face a variety of charges including aggravated assault, domestic abuse battery and murder. New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick warned that the fugitives are dangerous in a news conference on Friday night but also urged the public "not to panic."
The inmates who are still at large have been identified as Corey Boyd, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Antoine Massey, Leo Tate and Lenton VanBuren.
Groves, 27, was arrested for the shooting deaths of Jamar Robinson and Byron Jackson on Mardi Gras in 2018, CBS affiliate WWL-TV reported. At least two members of Robinson's family told WWL-TV that they went into hiding following Groves' escape.
"We didn't know what was going to happen, we didn't know how Derrick Groves felt ... whether he was coming for us, we didn't know," one of the family members told the news station.
They also said the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office did not contact them, as of Saturday.
How did the New Orleans inmates escape?
Hutson said the men were able to get out of the Orleans Justice Center because of "defective locks." She said she has continuously raised concerns about the locks to officials and, as recently as last week, advocated for money to fix the aged infrastructure.
Hutson said Friday that "there's no way" for inmates to escape the facility where 1,400 people are being held "without help from the outside."
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Tuesday that Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail, was arrested. Murrill said in a statement Tuesday that Williams allegedly told investigators an inmate "advised him" to turn the water off in the cell that would be used for the escape, which involved removing a toilet from the wall.
According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant, Williams told investigators with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation that he was threatened by Massey, one of the inmates who later escaped. Williams said that Massey allegedly threatened to shank him if he didn't shut off the water, according to the affidavit.
The inmates were discovered missing during a routine head count conducted at 8:30 a.m. local time at the Orleans Parish Jail, according to the sheriff's office. They are believed to have escaped sometime just after midnight.
The sheriff said that around 12:23 a.m., the inmates yanked the sliding jail cell door off the track and at 1:01 a.m., they exited the jail after breaching a wall behind a toilet.
Photos provided by authorities showed what they said were clean cuts on metal bars behind the toilet inside the jail cells.
If the water wasn't turned off, investigators said in the affidavit the cell could have flooded, potentially drawing attention to the escape and preventing it from being as successful as it was.
The toilet and bolts were removed using toiletry items, the sheriff said, but didn't specify what the items were. The inmates then scaled down a wall and ran across the interstate.
The Orleans County Sheriff's Office on Friday night released security video of the extraordinary escape, which shows the inmates sprinting out of the prison and then traversing the freeway.
The escaped inmates also scrawled obscene messages for the guards. One, which was misspelled, read "to easy, LOL."
At a news conference on Sunday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the escape was the worst in recent state history and said he is ordering an audit of the sheriff's office as well as the Orleans Parish Prison.
"This massive jailbreak could be the largest jailbreak in the history of the state, and it never should have happened. The public deserves to know who, what and how this happened," Landry said.
Three jail staff members were suspended without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said Sunday. It wasn't immediately clear if Williams was one of the three suspended employees.
Landry said an audit of the jail by the Department of Corrections will be done by the end of the week. He said everyone in the criminal justice system needs to be held accountable, "except for the police, who seem to be doing their job."
Landry cited delays in bringing charges, prosecutions and sentencing as factors he said contribute to jail populations.
He blamed Friday's escape on what he called a "progressive justice system," saying that "there is also no excuse for the way these cases are currently being mismanaged in our criminal justice system."
The governor said that nine of the 10 escapees had been in the pretrial stages for years, and he wants the district attorney to explain the slow progress in prosecuting criminal cases in the city.
Rewards increased for capture of inmates
At least one of the escaped inmates was captured based on a tip from the public, according to a statement from the FBI on the social media platform X.
Authorities said Monday that a total reward of $20,000 was being offered for information leading to the arrest of each inmate, with $10,000 coming from the FBI, another $5,000 from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and $5,000 more from CrimeStoppers. The FBI and CrimeStoppers had increased their rewards from $5,000 and $2,000, respectively.
FBI Special Agent Jonathan Trapp said at the news conference Sunday that he believes members of the public may be aiding the men, and authorities will arrest anyone found aiding or abetting them.
The escape is drawing intense scrutiny. It took hours for sheriff's officials to learn of the escape and then more time still to alert New Orleans police, even though some of the missing inmates are accused of violent offenses and they escaped into a neighborhood less than 2 miles from the city's famous French Quarter.
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Robert Hodges said authorities in neighboring states have been notified but officials do not believe the men have left the state yet. Leads for the men have not panned out, he said.
