10 inmates escape New Orleans jail: Charges against them include murder

Yahoo

18-05-2025

Nine inmates - some of them charged with murder - escaped a jail in New Orleans and remain on the loose as authorities investigate whether any guards were in on the jailbreak plot.
A total of 10 inmates escaped from jail in Orleans Parish at around 1 a.m. on Friday, Sheriff Susan Hutson told reporters. One inmate – Kendall Myles – was caught in the French Quarter but the other nine men remain on the run.
Officials suspect the group had help from jail staff: 'We have indication that these detainees received assistance from individuals inside the department,' Hutson said.
'You can run, but you CANNOT HIDE,' Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry wrote on Facebook. 'We will hunt each of you down.'
Authorities are offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who provides helpful information.
The release of the names of the nine escaped men: Gary C. Price, Derrick Groves, Jermaine Donald, Corey Boyd, Leo Tate, Dkenan Dennis, Robert Moody, Lenton Vanburen and Antoine T. Massey comes about nine hours after they were first discovered missing during a morning headcount at the jail.
Charges against them include attempted first-degree murder, according to Orleans Parish records.
Louisiana State Police located and apprehended Myles in the French Quarter, a busy tourist area in New Orleans, Sheriff Susan Hutson said during a 3:30 p.m. press conference. Authorities found the inmate underneath a parked car near the Hotel Monteleone, she said.
Local and state police are working with the FBI and United States Marshalls to find the remaining escapees.
Jail authorities said the group began making their escape at around 12:30 a.m. a few hours after lockdown at 10:30 p.m.
They began by pulling a 'defective' sliding cell door off its tracks, according to Sheriff Hutson. At around 1 a.m. they breached a jail wall by ripping away a toilet and sink.
Security footage shows the men leave via a loading dock, scale a wall and then run across a nearby highway, she said.
Orleans Parish Chief of Corrections Jeworski Mallett said breaching the wall near the toilets would not have been possible without outside assistance.
'It was more than just a breach of security, it was some type of help,' Mallett said.
The names of the nine men on the run are: Gary C. Price, Derrick Groves, Jermaine Donald, Corey Boyd, Leo Tate, Dkenan Dennis, Robert Moody, Lenton Vanburen and Antoine T. Massey.
They range in age from 19-year-old Moody, charged with second-degree battery, to 42-year-old Donald charged with second-degree murder.
Price, 21, is charged with attempted first-degree murder. Massey, 32, is charged with domestic abuse involving strangulation, according to Parish records.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at a news conference that police notified escapees' alleged victims and went to a home to remove a family thought to be in danger.
Mallett noted the prison – with 1,400 inmates – held an unusual number of 'high-security individuals' in a relatively low-security facility.
Contributing: Reuters.
This is a developing story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 10 inmates escape New Orleans jail. How did they do it?