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New Orleans’ Jail System Was Troubled Decades Before 10 Inmates Made an Audacious Escape
- Ten inmates escaped from the Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans recently by removing a toilet and exiting through a hole in a wall with cut steel bars while a guard stepped away to get food.
- This jailbreak occurred amid a longstanding history of jail dysfunction and neglect dating back decades, including a 1970 federal ruling that declared the Orleans Parish Prison unconstitutional for cruel and unusual conditions.
- Despite investing tens of millions over more than a decade following a 2013 court order aimed at transforming one of the nation’s most dangerous jails, much of the facility’s improvement and supervision efforts remain unfinished and largely aspirational.
- Rafael Goyeneche, a former prosecutor leading the New Orleans-based watchdog group Metropolitan Crime Commission, pointed out that although the jail is now equipped with 900 cameras, the lack of active monitoring renders this improvement largely ineffective, underscoring ongoing issues with security and oversight.
- The escape renewed scrutiny on the jail’s persistent problems, with Sheriff Susan Hutson accepting full accountability and requesting millions to fix staffing, aging infrastructure, surveillance, and supervision gaps, while warning unattended inmates remain a risk.
59 Articles
59 Articles
New Orleans prison system plagued by decades of violence before mass escape of 10 inmates last week
Associated Press News
New Orleans' jail system was troubled decades before 10 inmates made an audacious escape
The recent jailbreak in New Orleans followed decades of dysfunction in the city's jail system and recent warnings that conditions were ripe for catastrophe.
Sheriff's 'checkered past' comes to surface after last week's embarrassing jailbreak · American Wire News
A New Orleans sheriff’s “checkered past” is being criticized after 10 inmates escaped jail last week. Five inmates are still on the run after the group escaped from a hole behind a toilet in a New Orleans parish jail cell, with five being recaptured and one correctional officer being arrested. Former New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas called out the “incompetence” of New Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, who temporarily…
New Orleans' jail system was dysfunctional for decades before 10 inmates made a daring escape - Entertainment Unleashed Here
NEW ORLEANS — The party had infiltrated the prison in the city that care had forgotten. More than a decade before the recent New Orleans jailbreak, a series of films showed inmates slurping Budweiser, taking narcotics, gambling with handfuls of cash, and firing shots from a revolver. “You can get whatever you want in here,” ...
Former New Orleans police chief criticizes sheriff's 'checkered past' after jailbreak – Democratic Accent
Former New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas is criticizing what he described as New Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson’s “checkered past” after 10 inmates escaped a parish jail last week. Since the inmates escaped from a hole behind a toilet in a jail cell the morning of May 16, authorities have recaptured five and arrested one correctional officer in the jailbreak. “Sheriff Hutson has had a very checkered past in the last …
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