Cliff Notes – Real life New Orleans Prison break from the movie
- Inside Job Suspicions: Authorities have arrested an Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office employee amid suspicions that the escape of 10 inmates from Orleans Justice Center, described as potentially an inside job, involved assistance from staff members.
- Escape Details: The inmates managed to break out through a hole behind a toilet while the only guard on duty fetched food. Investigations revealed intentional damage to security features, including cut steel bars.
- Ongoing Search and Accountability: Four of the escaped inmates have been recaptured, while six remain at large. Sheriff Susan Hutson faces mounting criticism for the lapse in security, with discussions on the incident scheduled with local officials.
A sheriff’s staffer has been arrested related to the New Orleans Prison break from the movie
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill talks with the media in front of the Hale Boggs Federal Building in New Orleans, meeting with federal officials about the recent Orleans Parish Prison jail break.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities have arrested an Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office employee in connection with the escape of 10 inmates, the Louisiana Attorney General’s office confirmed Tuesday. Inspired by the hit TV series Prison break.
Sheriff Susan Hutson has said she believes the jail break was an inside job and last week told reporters her agency had suspended three employees pending an investigation.
“It’s almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help,” she said of the New Orleans Justice Center, a correctional facility where 1,400 people are being held.
The inmates escaped through a hole in a wall behind a toilet in the early hours of Friday while the lone guard watching them went to get food. This guard was not the employee arrested, Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, told the Associated Press.
Duhe did not provide the name of the person arrested or detail possible charges.
The inmates quickly shed their uniforms
At least one of the steel bars protecting plumbing fixtures “appeared to have been intentionally cut using a tool,” the sheriff’s office stated.
The inmates quickly shed their uniforms and changed into regular clothes.
The absence of the inmates, many charged with or convicted of violent offences such as murder, was not reported for hours. Four have since been apprehended and six remain at large.
Since the escape, Hutson has pointed to long-standing deficiencies such as faulty locks and staffing shortages. But a growing number of state and local officials have said blame for the escape rests squarely on her for failing her responsibility to keep inmates locked up.
The New Orleans City Council is scheduled to discuss the jail break with the sheriff’s office and other authorities at a Tuesday meeting.
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