The Orleans Parish jail went into lockdown Friday morning after guards discovered ten inmates had escaped, which reports say occurred between 12:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m on Friday.
New Orleans Parish Sheriff Hutson stated that the escape was coordinated with the help of people "inside our department." They also cited faulty locks and camera blind spots as reasons that allowed inmates to coordinate an escape.
Friday evening, the FBI issued a $5,000 reward for tips leading to the whereabouts of the escaped inmates.
What we know about the jail break
Guards found out inmates were missing during a headcount at 8:30 a.m. The sheriff's office initially said eleven inmates escaped, but by 2:45 p.m., announced that one inmate they thought was among the escapees had actually been in custody the whole time.
The sheriff's office has identified the escapees as:
Antoine Massey
Lenton Vanburen
Jermaine Donald
Leo Tate
Kendell Myles (back into custody)
Derrick Groves
Corey Boyd
Gary Price
Robert Moody
Decanon Dennis
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick says NOPD officers arrested one escapee, Kendell Myles. According to the OPSO, they found him "hiding beneath a car in the Hotel Monteleone parking garage."
How did the escape happen?
The escape remains under investigation, but Sheriff Hutson stated the inmates managed to, "to break open a door."
Photos show how the inmates cut a hole in a wall behind a prison toilet. From there, they fled through the pipe chase and from there to the loading dock, where they managed to climb across the jail wall, which led to the interstate.
Currently, officials are investigating whether power tools were used. Around the escape hole, inmates scrawled messages taunting law enforcement, saying things like:
"to easy LoL."
"F*** OPSO"
"We innocent"
"Catch us when you can"
Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office fails to notify NOPD and public immediately
The escape was not realized by the Orleans Parish Sheriff Office until 8:30 on Friday morning, although the inmates had exited the jail at around 1:01 am.
Reports show that OPSO did not contact the NOPD immediately. And it wasn't until 11 am that the public was notified of the jail break.
"This is absurd," said DA Jason Williams in an interview with WWL-TV. "This is an unprecedented jail break. I don't remember a single time in my lifetime in any American city where 11 people have been able to escape at one time. These individuals are not there for minor crimes. I personally prosecuted one of those individuals and asked the jury to give him a life sentence... The fact that he is now one of these escapees angers me."
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