NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – A grand jury on Wednesday indicted a Louisiana sheriff whose office came under investigation after 10 inmates broke out of a New Orleans jail in an audacious escape that happened on her watch.
Susan Hutson has been indicted on 30 felony counts stemming from an investigation into her time as the Orleans Parish sheriff.
Hutson is not accused of helping the inmates pull off the brazen jailbreak through a hole behind a toilet in May 2025 — an incident that set off a months-long search before all the escapees were eventually captured. Instead, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said a state probe found that Hutson’s poor management of the jail led to the escape.
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“While Sheriff Hutson did not personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled the escape,” Murrill wrote in a statement. “As my prosecutors move forward with this case, I continue to have productive conversations with Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork on how to improve operations, secure the facility, and build in basic financial oversight that complies with state law. I am confident in her commitment to implement the difficult changes needed to reform the jail.”…