Surveillance cameras at a prison in New Orleans captured the moment a group of inmates managed to escape and their subsequent mad dash toward the nearest roadway.
The group of 10 inmates were discovered missing during a routine headcount at the Orleans Justice Center on Friday around 8:30 a.m., according to Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson.
Just hours earlier, the men managed to yank a sliding cell door off its track, while the lone guard tasked with watching their pod was away getting food, she said.
From there, the group flooded inside the jail cell, then separated the toilet from the wall and made their escape through the resulting hole.
Images released by the sheriff’s office on Friday show the damaged bathroom area. The wall was also covered in crude messages from the escapees, including one that read, “To[o] Easy LOL.” Others wrote things like: “Catch us when you can” and “I’m/We Innocent.”
AP
This photo obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, May 16, 2025, shows an opening inside a cell at the Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans. (AP Photo)
The sheriff’s office also shared video clips that show the men jimmying the door before the group of accused criminals — all of them still sporting their orange-and-white jumpsuits — race away from the detention center.
At least one of the inmates can be seen taking a tumble during his desperate bid to flee. He was carrying blankets authorities said the men used to avoid being cut by barbed wire as they scaled the fence encircling the prison.
The cameras also caught them sprinting from the loading dock and running crossing Interstate 10. Police said the prisoners’ uniforms were later found abandoned in a neighborhood near the highway.
As of early Saturday afternoon, seven out of the 10 missing inmates had been recaptured.
Kendell Myles, who’s facing a second-degree murder charge, was apprehended in the French Quarter, less than 2 miles from the Orleans Justice Center, according to Louisiana State Police. He was found hiding beneath a car in a hotel parking garage.
Authorities later confirmed both Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis had also been recaptured.
On Saturday, the Louisiana State Police said all three men were taken to a “secure state facility,” and that “the search remains active with multiple agencies working nonstop.”
Of those still missing, four men — Corey Boyd, Lenton VanBuren Jr., Jermaine Donald and Derrick Groves — have been charged with second-degree murder, officials said. The others were identified as Gary Price, Antoine Massey, and Leo Tate Sr.
Hutson said authorities are still working to understand how the escape occurred, but that they believe the men received help from jail staff or deputies.
“We do acknowledge, there is no way, people can get out of this facility without there being some time of lapse in security,” the sheriff said.
Three employees have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the matter.
