Sheriff’s ‘checkered past’ comes to surface after last week’s embarrassing jailbreak

A New Orleans sheriff’s “checkered past” is being criticized after 10 inmates escaped jail last week.

Five inmates are still on the run after the group escaped from a hole behind a toilet in a New Orleans parish jail cell, with five being recaptured and one correctional officer being arrested. Former New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas called out the “incompetence” of New Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, who temporarily suspended her re-election campaign this week after the jailbreak.

“Sheriff Hutson has had a very checkered past in the last 15 years in the city of New Orleans,” Serpas told Fox News Digital. “with multiple complaints of administrative failures as the [former] independent police monitor, multiple complaints as the sheriff and the consent decree management and multiple complaints of ethical violations that have resulted in findings by the Louisiana Ethics Board.”

(Video Credit: Fox News Digital)

“It’s no surprise to the people of New Orleans that incompetence is key to her leadership style, and the people deserve so much better,” added Serpas, who is currently a criminology and justice professor at Loyola University in New Orleans.

Asked about the arrest of Sterling Williams for allegedly helping the inmates escape, Serpas said “the question” is how Hutson did not see “red flags on an appointment.”

Cortnie Harris, 32, and Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, are also accused of assisting in the escape.

“There is no question that it’s difficult to hire people to work in the jail environment,” Serpas said. “There is no question that there are many examples across the country of jail employees violating their oath and office. It’s a thing that sheriffs just know what to look out for. And here we have another example of this particular sheriff … not knowing how to actually lead or be ethical in that leadership.”

“The public expects the local, state, and federal agencies will work together, which we have clear evidence of,” he added. “I think the next jury that is out, if you will, is there is an upcoming sheriff’s election. And in New Orleans, my hometown … in Sheriff Hutson’s race, when she won, 25% of voters went to the polls. We need people to go to the polls and challenge the candidates.”

Some of the escaped inmates are charged with violent offenses, including murder, according to Fox News, which noted that they “were being held in a minimum-custody site at the Orleans Parish prison. The jail is only at 60% staffing, and at the time of the escape, four supervisors and 36 staff members were monitoring 1,400 inmates, authorities said.”

“As I said today, I take full accountability for the breach that occurred under my leadership,” Hutson said in a statement this week. “I am grateful to the community, our law enforcement partners, and city and state leaders for helping us to secure the Orleans Justice Center and capture the remaining escapees.”

(Video Credit: Fox 8)

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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