Inmate manages to escape from a Louisiana jail for the second time in a year
A Louisiana jail inmate who escaped from a parish jail about a year ago has accomplished the same feat again, authorities said.
Tra'Von Johnson, 19, made his latest escape Thursday from the Tangipahoa Parish Jail, which has a history of jailbreaks involving a half-dozen inmates in recent years, the sheriff's office announced. Johnson had been awaiting a trial for his alleged role in a home invasion that left a man killed and a child injured, authorities said.
Authorities say they became suspicious when a member of the public called the sheriff's office shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday, questioning whether Johnson was still in custody.
'Following an immediate headcount of the jail population and a review of Johnson's movements throughout the day, it was determined Johnson escaped around 4:30 p.m. when another inmate helped lift him over the perimeter fence,' the sheriff's office said in a statement.
Law officers are now searching for Johnson and also contacting victims and reaching out to Johnson's relatives and associates, the sheriff's office said.
In the summer of 2024, Johnson was among a group of four inmates who escaped from the jail over the Memorial Day weekend by crawling under a gap in a wall and then scaling two razor-wire fences. Three of the escapees including Johnson were captured within days, but it took six months to apprehend the fourth fugitive.
Manpower shortages, inadequate staff training and experience, a lack of supervision and insufficient head counts contributed to the escape last year, authorities said at the time.
In 2017, two brothers being held on charges that included attempted murder escaped from the jail's exercise yard and were recaptured the next day, WBRZ-TV reported at the time.
Tangipahoa Parish's jail in Amite is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans.
The latest Tangipahoa Parish jailbreak comes as state and federal law officers continue hunting for five of the 10 inmates who escaped from a jail in New Orleans. In that case, the inmates squeezed through a small hole after removing a toilet. The message 'To Easy LOL' was left on the cell room wall, with an arrow pointing to the hole.
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Daily Mail
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'Devil in the Ozarks' captured by police after murderous police chief escaped jail using a disguise
A tense, two-week manhunt ended in the dense Arkansas woods on Friday afternoon as authorities captured Grant Hardin, a convicted murderer and rapist whose notoriety led to a TV documentary, 'Devil in the Ozarks.' Hardin's escape from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock had terrified communities and sparked a massive multi-agency dragnet. The Arkansas Department of Corrections confirmed Hardin's capture roughly a mile from where his brazen breakout began on May 25. Officials say Hardin, a former police chief turned violent felon, managed to evade authorities for 13 days before being tracked down and apprehended near the rugged terrain he likely thought would be his shield. Hardin briefly attempted to run from officers when he saw them approach, but he was quickly tackled to the ground, said Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas prison system. 'He'd been on the run for a week and a half and probably didn´t have any energy left in him,' he added. The escape of Hardin, once tasked with upholding the law as the police chief of the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, had left Arkansans on edge. After slipping free from the high-security facility at 2:25pm on a Saturday afternoon, the 60-year-old fugitive disappeared into the wilderness, igniting a search that stretched across local, state, and federal agencies. 'I'm so proud of our Department staff and all the local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies for being steadfast as they always are,' said Benny Magness, Chairman of the Arkansas Board of Corrections. 'They sacrificed everything to make sure Hardin was captured and the community could finally feel safe again.' For nearly two weeks, armed officers combed miles of forest and rocky terrain, backed by helicopters, drones, and K-9 units, in a desperate bid to catch a man many feared had nothing left to lose. 'Thanks to the great work of local, state, and federal law enforcement, Arkansans can breathe a sigh of relief,' Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said after news of Hardin's capture broke. 'I'm grateful to every officer who contributed and give special thanks to the Trump administration and Secretary Kristi Noem, who sent a specialized Border Patrol team that was instrumental in tracking and apprehending Hardin.' That specialized unit, part of the elite U.S. Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), was credited with key assistance in pinning down Hardin's location - a patch of rugged woods near Calico Rock. Hardin's fall from law enforcement officer to convicted killer is as stunning as it is chilling. Once sworn to protect and serve, Hardin is now best known for the brutal slaying that sent him to prison in 2017. He was convicted of first-degree murder and later found guilty of rape, stacking a 30-year sentence on top of his already damning record. His escape only amplified public concern. Hardin, already classified as a violent offender, vanished with a ruthlessness that alarmed even seasoned law enforcement officers. 'I'm incredibly appreciative to all of our dedicated law enforcement agencies that spent countless hours, both day and night, sacrificing their time, utilizing their resources, and lending their invaluable expertise to this search,' said Secretary of Corrections Lindsay Wallace. 'To every Department staff member who assisted in this manhunt, I offer my heartfelt thanks.' The capture itself unfolded without bloodshed. Officials said Hardin was found deep in the brush, his body had been battered by the elements but he was alive. It is the final chapter to a manhunt that had gripped the state and left many communities living in fear. 'They got him about a mile from the prison, in the woods,' Magness confirmed. 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The Guardian
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So is the southern district of New York's 95% conviction rate. As much as these voices make it seem plausible that Combs could beat this case, the reality is his best chance of beating the case might be through a presidential pardon. Not surprisingly, that's something Donald Trump – the manosphere champion and a one-time Diddy wingman who has granted clemency to an assortment of hip-hop heroes, including the rapper NBA YoungBoy last week – is apparently considering. 'I haven't spoken to [Combs] in years. I think when I ran for politics, that relationship busted up, from what I read,' Trump said during an Oval Office event last week, when asked about a potential pardon. 'I would certainly look at the facts [of the case]. If I think someone was mistreated, whether they like me or dislike me wouldn't have any impact.' Either way, it's clear who he thinks the victim would be. With the Diddy trial at its projected halfway point, that Combs's defense team can count on continued support from Black voices in the manosphere is a marked development. Just this week, at least one content creator was reportedly requested to be barred from the trial after leaking the identity of an anonymous witness. For these men, the trial is a test of their influence as they reframe a female victim's story into a modern allegory on the perils of being too powerful a man. It seems to be working. During the first week of the trial, a fan approached Gaines outside the courthouse and told him: 'You're the only person I trust to cover this trial.' He didn't need the encouragement. Anna Betts contributed to reporting
The Guardian
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'The Base in [the] USA is preparing for an upcoming national training event,' reads one of its recent posts soliciting crypto donations. 'This one might be our most attended training event in [the] USA in a while. We could really use some financial support to help our members with travel expenses.' The post continued: 'When you donate money to the Base, you're investing in a White Defense Force that's aiming to protect white people from political persecution and physical destruction.' The Base then published a new photo of armed members claiming to be in the midwest, which follows a trend in 2025 of the group bragging about its unafraid American presence. As a sort of taunt to its enemies, on the day of Trump's inauguration the Base released a photo of four members somewhere in Appalachia, in what was the largest number of American members in one photo in over a year. 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The Trump administration's security posture on the far right is to downplay its significance. Yet experts unanimously agree: it is the top domestic terrorism threat facing the country. Instead, Patel, the FBI's director, has gone about removing agents from pursuing the far right, while one of Trump's first actions in his second term was to provide unconditional pardons, en masse, to all of the January 6 insurrectionists. Fisher-Birch also pointed out that the Base had taken itself more seriously and upped its activities in Ukraine to the tune of calling for the murder of government officials and acts of sabotage – with the clearly stated goal of forming a white ethnostate in the west of the country. Already, the Ukrainian cell has uploaded geolocated videos of some of these attacks, one showing the burning of a military vehicle and what looks like a government electrical box. 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