Seven Jail Escapees Still At Large In New Orleans

Louisiana authorities are still searching for seven jail escapees following a New Orleans prison break Friday.

Ten prisoners were unaccounted for during a routine headcount at the Orleans Justice Center Friday morning, prompting an alert from the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) announcing that the detainees escaped from the facility. Authorities made their first capture hours later, apprehending Kendell Myles, 20, as he hid under a car in a hotel parking garage, the OCSO said. He reportedly faces a new charge of simple escape.

Two others — Robert Moody, 21, and Dkenan Dennis, 25 — were captured late Friday, the OCSO said. The Louisiana State Police said Saturday that the three captured escapees were transferred to “a secure state facility” while a round-the-clock multi-agency search for the remaining seven continued.

“You can run, but you CANNOT HIDE. We will hunt each of you down,” Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry warned the escapees Friday.

The OCSO shared images that it said showed that the detainees had sawed their way through a pipe chase behind a cell’s toilet. It also shared a surveillance video that showed an inmate tugging at a door and several inmates fleeing the building and apparently crossing a highway. (RELATED: Prison Releases Video Showing Murderer’s Escape)

The detainees had grouped in a cell whose door they had forced open shortly after midnight and escaped by breaching a wall behind a toilet out of view of a prison monitor, fleeing through a door through which the jail received supplies, and scaling a security fence using blankets, and fled across Interstate 10, according to the OPSO.

“At the time of the escape, no deputy was assigned to Pod 1-D, and the civilian Corrections Technician Monitor [sic] (CMT) stationed at the pod module had stepped away briefly for food,” the OPSO said.

The escapees scrawled taunting messages such as “To [sic] easy LOL”, “Catch us when you CAN,” and a few obscenities, one of the images that the OPSO published shows.

The OPSO acknowledged security lapses such as faulty doors, locks, and security cameras, and staffing shortages. It alleged that there were signs that some OPSO staff had abetted the jailbreak.

OPSO Sheriff Susan Hutson told the press that the jailbreak was becoming political when it should have remained a public safety matter.

Hutson, seeking reelection as sheriff, appeared to suggest that some opponents of hers might have colluded to facilitate the jailbreak in some way and sabotage her reelection chances, according to reports.

“Why did it happen just right now, right in the middle, as we’re getting ready to start this sheriff’s race?” Hutson asked reporters, according to ABC News. “This is very suspicious. We know that they had help. We’re showing you they had help. This was coordinated. There’s much more than meets the eye.”

Hutson declined to apologize for the incident, NewsNation reported.

“When I have enough information, I’ll be glad to talk to the community about my issues or what I may need to apologize for, but what I’m telling the community, this is a public safety issue first and foremost,” she reportedly said.

Former interim New Orleans Police Chief Michelle Woodfork, also vying for the sheriff’s position, was one of several aspiring and current public office holders in Louisiana who panned the OPSO’s handling of the incident, NOLA.com reported. “We must hear directly from the sheriff herself to answer when this happened, how it happened, and why it took so long for her to alert the public that these individuals escaped her jail,” Woodfork reportedly said.

Landry alleged Saturday that the incident was “what happens when George Soros funds New Orleans elections.”

The incident occurred in the week after Hutson narrowly secured more funding for the very jail from which the detainees would escape, according to NOLA.com.

Hutson told reporters that her office was “actively advocating” for more funds to address the facility’s urgent security needs. “We are committed to ensuring that the necessary repairs are made to restore full functionality to the facility and to improve the overall safety and security of both detainees and staff,” she said.