16-05-2025
11 inmates escape from Orleans Parish jail in Louisiana
Eleven inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Justice Center in New Orleans, authorities said Friday.
Officials discovered the inmates missing during a routine head count around 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sheriff Susan Hutson said at an afternoon news conference, calling it a "very serious and unacceptable situation."
Photos released by the sheriff's office show the inside of a cell where the escape is believed to have happened. A large hole was cut behind a toilet with phrases such as "We Innocent" and "Too Easy LOL" written above it.
Chief Christopher Goodly with the sheriff's office Field Operations Bureau said the inmates who breached or escaped custody should be considered armed and dangerous.
Jail records show that at least four of the escaped inmates are charged with murder or attempted murder. Charges for the others include aggravated assault with a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm, armed false imprisonment, battery and drug offenses.
At least one of the escapees, Kendall Myles, has been apprehended. State police shared a photo of Myles in police car after he was captured in the French Quarter following a brief foot pursuit.
He was found hiding beneath a car at the Hotel Monteleone parking garage, the sheriff's office. Myles faces a new charge of simple escape.
Myles, 20, escaped the Bridge City Center in 2022, NBC affiliate WDSU of New Orleans reported. He was indicted in an attempted murder and carjacking case after he and an accomplice were accused of robbing a 59-year-old man, the district attorney's office said in a September 2022 news release.
Authorities said Myles allegedly shot the man twice before taking his car, the release stated.
"Thank you to Troop NOLA for their diligence and speed in apprehending the first escapee," Gov. Jeff Landry said in a post Friday on X. "To the other 10: YOU ARE NEXT!"
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said her office was calling for an investigation and will "do whatever it takes" to determine what happened.
"Someone clearly dropped the ball and there's no excuse for this," she wrote in a post on X. "I am calling for a full investigation — This is beyond unacceptable, and once these offenders are back in custody, there must be real accountability."
The sheriff's office said it was working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies "in a full-scale search operation."
Hutson told the public not to engage with or approach the inmates.
"We are urging the public to remain alert," she said.
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