Ten inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Justice Center in New Orleans with the help of people “inside of our department,” the sheriff said Friday.
Officials discovered the inmates missing during a routine head count around 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sheriff Susan Hutson said at a news conference, calling it a “very serious and unacceptable situation.”
The inmates allegedly started yanking on a cell to pull it off track just before 12:30 a.m., the sheriff said in an update.
“They were able to break open a door,” Hutson said, telling reporters that there was an employee in the pod module. “They were still able to exit the jail about 1:01 a.m. after breaching a wall behind a toilet in the jail.”
Video surveillance showed the escapees exiting a door on the docks, scaling a wall and running across the interstate, she said.
Photos released by the sheriff’s office show the inside of a cell where the escape is believed to have happened. A large hole was cut behind a toilet with phrases such as “We Innocent” and “Too Easy LoL” written above it.
When asked by a reporter if power tools had been used, Chief of Corrections Jay Mallett said it was something the department was looking into.
“It’s more than just a breach of security, it was some type of help,” he said at a news conference. “It would definitely be some type of tool used other than just the strength of a sheer individual.”
The sheriff’s office initially said that 11 inmates had escaped. Hutson clarified that one man, Keith Lewis, had been moved to a different cell and was never on the run.
Chief Christopher Goodly with the sheriff’s office Field Operations Bureau said the inmates who escaped custody should be considered armed and dangerous.
Jail records show that at least four of the escaped inmates are charged with murder or attempted murder. Charges for the others include aggravated assault with a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm, armed false imprisonment, battery and drug offenses.
At least one of the escapees, Kendall Myles, has been apprehended. State police shared a photo of Myles in police car after he was captured in the French Quarter following a brief foot pursuit.
He was found hiding beneath a car at the Hotel Monteleone parking garage, the sheriff’s office. Myles faces a new charge of simple escape.
Myles, 20, escaped the Bridge City Center in 2022, NBC affiliate WDSU of New Orleans reported. He was indicted in an attempted murder and carjacking case after he and an accomplice were accused of robbing a 59-year-old man, the district attorney’s office said in a September 2022 news release.
Authorities said Myles allegedly shot the man twice before taking his car, the release stated.
“Thank you to Troop NOLA for their diligence and speed in apprehending the first escapee,” Gov. Jeff Landry said in a post Friday on X. “To the other 10: YOU ARE NEXT!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said her office was calling for an investigation and will “do whatever it takes” to determine what happened.
“Someone clearly dropped the ball and there’s no excuse for this,” she wrote in a post on X. “I am calling for a full investigation — This is beyond unacceptable, and once these offenders are back in custody, there must be real accountability.”
The sheriff’s office said it was working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies “in a full-scale search operation.”
Hutson told the public not to engage with or approach the inmates.
“We are urging the public to remain alert,” she said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
