7 inmates still on the run after New Orleans jailbreak; watch video: live updates
Seven of 10 inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail through a hole in a wall behind a toilet remained on the run May 17, as authorities in Louisiana continued a massive manhunt and wondered if the men had had inside help.
The inmates, including some with murder charges, broke out of the jail in Orleans Parish at about 1 a.m. on May 16. Nearly a day later, Kendell Myles, Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis were back in custody, according to Gov. Jeff Landry.
"3 down 7 to go, and we ARE NOT slowing down! LOCK THEM UP!" Landry said in a social media post.
The inmates pulled a "defective" cell door off its tracks before ripping away a toilet and sink unit from a wall, according to Susan Hutson, sheriff of Orleans Parish. Security footage showed the men leaving via a loading dock, scaling a wall and running across a highway, Hutson said.
"We have indication that these detainees received assistance in their escape from individuals inside of our department," Hutson said, adding that a jail employee saw them escape through surveillance and didn't report it.
Officials are offering up to a $7,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
The seven inmates still at large are Corey Boyd, Leo Tate, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Lenton Vanburen, Antoine T. Massey and Gary C. Price.
Where is the jail?
The inmates escaped from Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans. The jail opened in 1837.
What other big inmate escapes received national attention?
Another high-profile inmate escape that caught national attention at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. The incident involved two inmates, Richard Matt and David Sweat, who escaped the maximum-security prison on June 6, 2015.
Following 22 days on the run, Matt, a career criminal who was convicted of killing his former boss in December 1997, was eventually shot by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer.
Sweat, who was sentenced to life for killing a sheriff's deputy, was captured two days later after being shot by a New York State trooper. He was returned to the Clinton facility after he recovered from his wounds.
A prison seamstress named Joyce Mitchell pleaded guilty to aiding the inmates by smuggling in hacksaw blades in frozen hamburger meat. The escape also resulted in one prison guard facing related criminal charges, nine officers being suspended and the prison's top leaders being replaced.
Another jailbreak that caught America's attention was the 2016 escape of three inmates –Jonathan Tieu, 20; Hossein Nayeri, 37; and Bac Tien Duong, 43 – from the Orange County Men's Central Jail in California. The three men cut through half-inch steel bars, traveled through plumbing tunnels and used a makeshift rope out of bedsheets to rappel down the facility.
The escape of Santos Samuel Fonseca, 21, and Jonathan Salazar, 20, from the Monterey County Jail in November 2019 was also highly publicized. The two were murder suspects at the time of the escape, and they managed to exit the jail by creating a hole in the ceiling, going through a maintenance gap and kicking open a hatch blocked by construction.
How common are jailbreaks?
How often inmate escapes occur is dependent on several factors, Bryce Peterson, a senior research scientist at The Center for Justice Research and Innovation, told CBS News.
"Escapes are both more common and less common than you think," Peterson said. "Escapes are happening every single day. You have people leaving from minimum security custody all the time, several times a day, from facilities across the country."
On the other hand, Peterson told the outlet that "sensational escapes" of high-profile prisoners, like that of convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante from a Pennsylvania prison in 2023, are "extremely rare." The likelihood of prisoners escaping could be attributed to the low staffing levels and wages at many U.S. detention facilities, he added.
"I think if you ask any sort of correctional authority, they would always say, staffing is an issue. That being said, in the last couple of years, that issue has been exacerbated tenfold," Peterson said, per CBS News.
Marc Bullaro, a former assistant deputy warden at Rikers Island in New York, told Scripps News that "general escapes are common," with about "2,000 a year" occurring in the United States. Most times, these inmates are "just walking away from minimum security jails," he added.
Were there known maintenance issues at Orleans Parish Prison?
The New Orleans jail is in "critical need" of repairs and upgrades, especially to ensure its doors and locks are functioning properly, Hutson, the Orleans Parish sheriff, told CNN. Despite its needs, Huston said the jail remained secure.
“It’s almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help,” she told PBS of the facility, where 1,400 people are being held.
Bianka Brown, chief financial officer of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, told PBS there wasn't enough money in the budget to afford maintenance and service contracts to fix broken doors, replace locks and address other infrastructure issues at the jail.
The facility housed several "high security" inmates convicted of violent crimes who required a “restrictive housing environment that did not exist,” Jay Mallett, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office chief of corrections, told PBS. Before the escape, the sheriff’s office was in the process of transferring dozens to more secure locations, according to the outlet.
New Orleans mayor thanks law enforcement searching for inmates
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell took to social media to thank law enforcement officials as they continued to search for the seven remaining escapees.
"I want to say thank you to the New Orleans Police Department, our Unified Command made up of State Police, our federal partners, as they continue to work tirelessly on this manhunt to ensure that everyone is captured," she wrote in a Facebook post on May 17.
The City of New Orleans and its police shared a joint statement on May 16, telling residents and visitors to stay vigilant during the manhunt and if they see something, say something, according to WDSU.
"Now is a critical time for our community to come together and assist in any way possible," the statement read, per the New Orleans-based TV station.
What were the now-captured inmates initially in jail for?
By the evening of May 17, Kendell Myles, Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis were the only three inmates back in custody. According to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office inmate records, the men are incarcerated for crimes ranging from drug possession to attempted murder.
The trio back in jail are awaiting trial for various felony charges, including attempted murder, armed robberies, aggravated assault, battery, extortion, illegally carrying weapons and illegal drug possession offenses, inmate records show.
Myles is charged with attempted second-degree murder. Moody faces trial on an aggravated second-degree battery charge and Dennis is being held a $2 million bond for armed robbery with a firearm, according to the inmate records.
At least four of the escaped inmates are charged with murder or attempted murder, NBC News reported.
It is unclear what additional charges the inmates might face following their escape.
Contributing: Karissa Waddick and Michael Loria, Paste BN; Reuters