10 inmates from a New Orleans prison managed to escape after breaching a wall behind a toilet, according to CNN. Since the escape on Friday, the authorities have only caught one of the men, some of whom are murder suspects. Now, they believe that faulty locks are also to blame for the escape from Orleans Justice Center.
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Faulty Cell Locks Blamed For 10 Prison Inmates’ Escape From New Orleans Jail
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said in a press conference that the cells had defective locks, per NewsNation. The faulty locks issue has allegedly been an issue Hutson has been trying to fix since she got into office.
By 10:30 PM, all inmates are typically locked in their cells. Unfortunately, due to the defective locks, more than a few prisoners managed to escape.
“This is a public safety issue and we all need to continue to work together to solve it and get these folks back in custody,” she said. Hutson also revealed that they believe the “detainees received assistance in their escape from individuals inside of our department.”
Early Friday morning, around 1 AM, the inmates broke through the wall behind a toilet. They then left through a door used to transfer supplies, scaled a wall, and fled across the interstate.
The sheriff’s office shared a photo of the small opening they used to escape. The prisoners left behind writings to taunt officers, one saying “To Easy LoL.”
Staff only discovered them missing hours later, around 8:30 AM. After doing a routine head count, they realized that 10 of the prisoners were missing.
All Escaped Prisoners’ Identities
The men who escaped were identified as: Corey Boyd, Dkenan Dennis, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Antoine Massey, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles, Gary Price, Leo Tate and Lenton Vanburen, as reported by WVUE.
These aren’t just your typical criminals, either. While some have charges of aggravated assault with a firearm, others are charged with murder.
The prisoner that the police managed to catch was Myles. According to the Orleans Parish SO, they found the runaway hiding under a car in a hotel parking garage. The SO’s Facebook page confirmed this around 3 PM.
“We can confirm Kendell Myles is currently back in custody and is being rebooked at the facility for a new charge of Simple Escape,” said the statement. “The remaining individuals are still being actively pursued, and our deputies, in collaboration with local and state law enforcement, are working tirelessly to locate and return them to custody.”