Ten inmates, including four accused of murder, slipped out of a New Orleans jail early Friday morning and managed to stay under the radar for over seven hours. Their escape, now captured on surveillance video, has stunned local authorities and raised serious concerns about security lapses inside the facility.
The group broke out through a hole behind a toilet, tampered with a locked cell door, and scaled a wall while a guard tasked with watching them was reportedly out picking up food. The escape route took them across Interstate 10, into a nearby neighborhood, and now, into a growing manhunt. As of now, only two have been captured. Eight are still on the run.
Inside Help And A 7-Hour Head Start
According to a timeline released by the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, the inmates began working on the door around 12:23 a.m. “They ultimately broke it open,” Sheriff Susan Hutson told reporters during a briefing. Surveillance footage later showed them using blankets to climb over barbed wire fencing near I-10 around 1:19 a.m., making their way into a nearby neighborhood in the dark.
The prison staff didn’t realize the inmates were missing until a routine headcount at 8:30 a.m. “That gave the fugitives more than seven hours of freedom before the alarm was raised,” said Major Silas Phipps Jr…