Critics blast hourslong gap before officials disclosed 10 inmates' escape from New Orleans jail

NEW ORLEANS — At least a dozen law enforcement agencies are searching Saturday for seven of the 10 men who broke out of a New Orleans jail by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet and scaling a wall.

A law enforcement photograph obtained by The Associated Press shows the opening through which the men escaped. Above the hole are scrawled messages that include ''To Easy LoL'' with an arrow pointing at the gap.

Friday's escape is drawing intense scrutiny and opprobrium. It took hours for sheriff's officials to learn of the escape and then more time still to alert New Orleans police, even though some of the missing inmates are accused of violent offenses and they escaped into a neighborhood less than 2 miles (3.2 km) from the city's famous French Quarter.

Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office spokesperson Casey McGee did not immediately respond to a call and text message on Saturday.

''Someone clearly dropped the ball and there's no excuse for this,'' Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said on X.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, who said he prosecuted one of the people who escaped, told New Orleans news station WWL-TV he was ''angry.''

''This is absurd,'' he said. ''I don't understand how it is feasible that it could have occurred.''

What are jail officials saying?

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said the men were able to get out of the Orleans Justice Center because of ''defective locks," and possibly with help from people inside her department.

''It's almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help,'' she said Friday of the jail where 1,400 people are being held.

Hutson said she has repeatedly raised concerns about the locks and again this week pushed for funding to fix jail infrastructure.

Surveillance footage, shared with media during a news conference, showed the escapees sprinting out of the facility — some wearing orange clothing and others in white. They scaled a fence, using blankets to protect themselves from barbed wire, and some sprinted across an interstate and into a neighborhood.

Why did it take hours to learn about the escape?

The escapees yanked open a door to enter the cell with the hole around 12:30 a.m. By 1:30 a.m., they were outside the jail, according to the sheriff's office.

But it was not until a routine morning headcount more than seven hours later that law enforcement learned they were missing.

Officials from the sheriff's office say no deputy was at the pod where the fugitives had been held. There was a civilian employee there, but she had stepped away to get food, they said.

There appeared to be a further delay before New Orleans police were notified.

''You've given a head start to some very dangerous people,'' Williams told WWL-TV Friday.

Soon after the escape, one of the men, Kendall Myles, 20, was apprehended in the French Quarter after a brief foot chase.

Three sheriff's employees have been placed on suspension pending the outcome of an investigation. It was not immediately clear whether any of the employees were suspected of helping with the escape. Officials also didn't say if the employee who left to get food was among the three suspended.

Who are the men who escaped?

Most of the men are in their 20s. Myles and the other two men who were captured, Robert Moody, 21, and Dkenan Dennis, 24, were taken by helicopter to a state correctional facility outside the New Orleans area, Louisiana State Police said Saturday.

The agency said one of the men became hostile during the transfer, requiring troopers to use a ''spit hood.'' They did not identify the man.

Dennis had been charged with armed robbery with a firearm and illegal carrying of a weapon during a crime of violence, according to Murrill, the attorney general. Moody was facing a weapons charge as well as charges of attempted second-degree battery and obstruction.

Murrill said both men will face additional charges stemming from the escape.

One of the fugitives, Derrick Groves, was convicted on two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder last year for his role in the 2018 Mardi Gras Day shootings of two men. Another escapee, Corey Boyd, had pled not guilty to a pending second-degree murder charge.

The jail has had problems before

The justice center opened in 2015, making it a relatively new facility, but it has still experienced violence and security problems.

Hutson said the facility is around 60% staffed, so the staff is ''stretched thin."

Bianka Brown, chief financial officer of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, said the jail can't afford a maintenance and service contract to fix problems such as broken doors, lock replacements and other ailing infrastructure.

The jail contained numerous ''high security'' people convicted of violent offenses who required a ''restrictive housing environment that did not exist,'' said Jay Mallett, Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office chief of corrections. The sheriff's office was in the process of transferring dozens to more secure locations.

Hutson is facing reelection this year, and at least one of her opponents, former interim New Orleans Police Superintendent Michelle Woodfork, demanded she answer questions about the escape. Williams, the district attorney, appointed Woodfork to a position in his office last year.

Noting the sheriff's race was starting, Hutson called the timing of the escape ''suspicious." She did not elaborate.