The Great Escape of the Orleans Parish Jail

0:05 M I Wall Street line, shackle change, Oh weesome, girdy, it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's been a century. Juice as the huge stream game Rango three, I'm here by.

0:46 Me to die. Inside these walls. Inside the wild. And went no girl as I.

1:31 Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast one hundred and forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest prison. I'm Jim Chapman, and today I have a current news story for you that is everywhere in the state of Louisiana and has been picked up nationally a lot of your major news networks talking about this. It perfectly fits a podcast based around and that is the largest prison escape on record in Louisiana history going on right now, and we're going to talk about it today. What happened? Who is still on the loose? What did they do? I've got all the deats, So I'm going to take you back to the morning of Friday, May sixteenth, at eight thirty am, and during a head count at the Orleans Parish Prison, correctional officers noticed that a mind blowing, mind blowing ten prisoners were missing from a head count, which I can only imagine the what the fuck thoughts were going through these officials heads at this point. Now, at nine o'clock am, the Sheriff of Orleans Parish, Susan Hudson, she is notified. And I can only imagine being the guy who had to make that call. Could you imagine having to call the Sheriff of Orleans Parish and say, I don't know how

3:05 to tell you this, but we're missing ten prisoners. And y'all, these were not people that were arrested for jaywalking. Most of these guys were in the New Orleans Parish prison awaiting trial for murder. So I'm gonna go over with you who escaped and what they were in prison for right now. Derek Groves was convicted of a double murder convicted in a twenty eighteen Marti Gras mass shooting. Corey Boyd is accused of second degree murder in a twenty twenty three shooting of a guy by the name of Brandon Fees during a car burglary. Jermaine Donald, who is facing second degree murder charges in aggravated battery charges, Gary Price, who was being held for attempted first degree murder Kendall Miles, and this guy has a long history of escape. He was accused of shooting a man in Uptown, New Orleans.

4:14 Antwine Massey who also has a history of escape, his dating back to two thousand and seven. He's been escaping prisons. He was being held for domestic violence, theft, kidnapping, and rape as well as a parole violation. Lenton van Buren he was being held for firearm possession and parole violations, and he's accused of a twenty twenty one murder. Leo Tate he was booked for burglary and weapons possession. Robert Moody he was facing charges for obstruction of justice, drug trafficking, and battery. And to Keenan Dennis who was being held for arm robbery and weapons chargers. So these guys are not people you want on the street obviously. And as I said, they discovered these guys were missing in what's the first thing they do, Well, they go look at the surveillance cameras throughout Orleans Parish prison. And I'm sure most of you listening to this have seen throughout social media and if you haven't, go google it. But you've seen this escape video from OPB. These guys yanked open a door cell, they removed a toilet, and then they navigate through a maintenance area. From there, they enter a hallway,

5:48 exit a supply door, scale a wall, and you can see them literally breaking out of prison and it's like nothing you've ever seen in your life. It looks like a movie. Just a ton of them just keep coming and going through this door. Ten of these guys. Now, they didn't just escape. They wanted to do a little comic relief, kind of a rub in the face of these officials. So during their escape, they decide they're gonna graffiti the wall around the toilet that they pulled out and went through the hole behind it. And so they write the words quote too easy, lol. They also write quote catch us when you can, and they also write quote most hated nine. And they had a bunch of profanity mixed in there as well, talk about adding insult to injury to the Orleans Bears prison officials. Now, of course, news gets out quick, and Fox eight in New Orleans actually receives a tip and they put it out there.

6:58 At ten point fifteen am, there was this big escape at Orleans Parish Prison. And this is before the public was even made aware of it by officials. Three minutes later, at ten eighteen, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office realizes this has gotten out and somebody had scooped that story, and they confirm it. And of course, not only is this a public emergency at this point, but it's also a political emergency. At this point, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, they hold their first news conference. Here's what that sounded up.

7:39 I want to speak directly to the people of New Orleans about a very serious and unacceptable situation. Earlier today, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office discovered that multiple incarcerated individuals escape. People of New Orleans both for being here. I want to speak directly to the people of New Orleans about a very serious and unacceptable situation. Earlier today, the Orleans Paris Sheriff's Office discovered that multiple incarcerated individuals escaped from custody. What we know right now is that during a retine headcount at eight thirty this morning, it was determined that several detainees were unaccounted for. Immediately upon discovery, OPSO activated emergency protocols and launched a coordinated response to locate and return these individuals to custody.

8:31 We are actively working. With local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in a full scale search operation. While we are in. The process of confirming specific details and identities, we are urging the public to remain alert. If you see anything suspicious or have any information that may assist in locating these escapees, please contact law enforcement immediately and we're going to give you some contact information. Do not engage or approach these subjects. To be accountable and transparent, we are launching a full investigation to determine how this escape occurred, including reviewing facility protocols, staff performance, and physical security measures.

9:20 Any lapses or failures that contributed to this incident will be addressed swiftly and with full accountability. The next steps are. That OPSO will continue to provide updates to the media and public as the investigation progresses and more facts become available. We are committed to transparency throughout this process and will not rest until all of these individuals are back in our custody. I'm going to turn this over now to Chief Christopher Goodley, who is over our Field Operations Bureau, to talk about how the hunt for these folks is going on. Good morning, on and thank you so earlier this morning we weren't other five of approximately eleven individuals that had breached our escape our custody. Those individuals right now will name so one thre eleven and Twine Massey.

10:13 All of these are adult males, if you. Will, Lynton Van Buren, Jermaine Donald, Leo Tate, Kendall Miles, Derek Grooves, Cory Boyd, Gary Price, Robert Moody, the Cannon, Dennis and Keith Lewis. All of those suspects are considered to be armed and dangerous. So anybody with information will encouraged to see something, say something and let us know called crime Stoppers or nine one one immediately if you see any of these individuals, we want them to return them back to justice immediately.

10:57 I'm now going to turn it over to Major Silace Slips Junior, who was the leader of the Investigative Services Bureau, to talk a little bit about the ongoing investigation. Thank you, CHERYV. Good morning. I'm going to be very brief, so we do have information on when the subjects left our custody. We are working every angle. At this point as the sheriff said, with all of our local, state, and federal partners to get them back into custody. I just want to remind the public and anyone that may be assisting them that if we identify you and can prove that you are assisting them, we will prosecute you along with them to the fullest extent of the law. We will provide additional information from the investigatory side as it becomes available, which will include a timeline.

11:40 I know Chief Goodly already mentioned the names. We will also be providing you those photographs, and we ask that you keep those plastered out throughout all of the new stations that are here. Thank you, Major. We will be disseminating the photos of these individuals as well. In closing, I want to let you know our top priority right now is the safety of the public and returning these individuals to our custody without delay. I want to thank our. Deputies and our law enforcement partners who were working around the clock to resolve this matter. We asked for the community's vigilance and cooperation during this process, and I want to just emphasize something else. Major said, anyone who helped or contributed to this escape will be held countable to the fullest extent of the law.

12:26 In a couple of things about what you just heard then, I'm sure you noticed they mentioned eleven escapees. Well, they found out shortly later that one of those men, a guy by the name of Keith Lewis that they mentioned, he was misidentified as an escapee. He had actually been moved to another unit within the jail, and they didn't realize that and thought he was part of the escape. And look, that's a problem in and of itself. Essentially until this news conference, they didn't even realize that one guy was still present in the prison. I mean, they don't even know who they have in there, much less who's escaped, right, It's ridiculous. And some quick things to note.

13:12 The escape itself occurred at twelve twenty am, but it wasn't discovered until a head count at eight point thirty am, which is absolutely crazy. Eight plus hour head start that these guys had. That is a long time to get out of dodge. Also important is that these inmates, two of them in particular, they had a major history of escape, and in addition to that, just about every one of them were being held in a minimum security wing. Of that prison, and there were murderers. All of them were murderers. Pretty much, there's no excuse for that. Now. Of course, the employees that were working during this time, not only are they going to go under investigation immediately, but also three of those went on suspension immediately. And that's the very least that's going to happen to him. The very least is they're going to get fired. The very worst is they're going to end up in prison because they're going to start investigating this, and it already was looking like an inside job. Now, it didn't take them long to catch their first escape ee. As a matter of fact, by eleven o'clock, the first innate, Kendall Miles, was captured in the French Quarter, of all places, where there's all kinds of tourists and the last thing you want is an escapee on the loose in the French Quarter. The

14:43 way he was caught was he went to the French Quarter, as I said, and if you escape from prison in New Orleans, don't go to the French Quarter, because they have what's known as facial recognition cameras. Essentially, police take a photo of that escapee, they uploaded and there's technology that kind of places that into the memory of these security cameras, and the second the security camera picks up on a face that looks like that picture, it alerts police. And that's exactly how this individual was caught. Now, not long after he was caught, as a matter of fact, the same day, a second escapee was tracked down after someone called a tip line and basically righted him out.

15:33 And not long after that, a third escapee was caught on the east side of New Orleans, opposite of the French Quarter. And at this point, it's looking like they're going to catch everybody really quickly. Right, they had already caught three out of the ten escapees and it's the first day. Unfortunately, it will get very slow after that. Now, the governor came out not only in local media with a press conference, but also the national media. And I'm going to play you that first presser from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry regarding the escape And you've heard me talk about Jeff Landry in the past, a very tough on crime governor, and he was pissed, to say the least.

16:21 Listen to this brings us. To why we are here today. Which is a failure in the jail system. This massive jail break, which my statistics tell me could be the largest jail break in the history of the state, should never have happened, and the public deserves to know who. What, and how this happened. The responsibility for answering those questions will fall to the Attorney General. Her office will lead. The investigation into this jail break. I've also ordered the Department of Corrections to audit the Orleans Parish Correctional Facility for compliance with basic jail guidelines and to remove all doc inmates that were currently in the Orleans Parish Correctional Facility.

17:20 I will be issuing an executive order that instructs the State Inspector General to get an inventory from the Sheriff of all pre trial detainees in those awaiting sentences, like Derek Groves, the escapee who pled guilty to manslaughter in October of last. Year and was awaiting sentencing. If he would have been sentenced by our court system, he most likely would not have had an opportunity to escape. That's extremely important now. Once a person is booked, is arrested, is arrested in booked case, then goes to the district Attorney or the Attorney General.

18:04 That is the second leg of our three legged stool. Prosecutors who dismiss cases and release violent criminals must be addressed. Five of these escapees. Had been charged while in jail. Kendall, Miles, Letton van Berg were charged with battery on correctional offices. Those charges were refused by the district attorney. Robert Moody, Jeremaine, Jermaine Donald, and Letting van Berg were all charged with contraband in jail. Their charges were refused by the district attorney. Prosecutors who are unprepared and delayed cases for years must be addressed in his court system. Nine of the ten escapees have been in the pre trial stages in OPCC for years now.

19:01 Resolving these cases requires cooperation between the district Attorney and judges, as only the judge has the ability to continue these cases. I'm asking the DA to explain to us and to the public why these cases are not progressing. The third leg of our stool is our courts. Last year, I requested the Louisiana Supreme Court to do an in depth review of the. Orleans criminal court system. They issued a finding and I've been working with inside the criminal court system to reprimand and to remove judges who are not properly administering their cases. We also established a more robust judicial Commission.

19:54 By constitutional amendment. Last year that was passed by the voters. Commission has recently been seated. I will be issuing an executive order asking the new Judiciary Commission to establish triggers for investigations by them, particularly in judicial districts with high crime rates, such as Arlen's East, Baton, Rouge, Rapids, Caddo. This executive order will mandate the Commission to specify specific review triggers, including reviewing the number of judge trials and acquittal rates in criminal courts.

20:40 There should be an automatic review. Of any judge that has a disproportionate number of acquittals, as we have seen here. In Orleans Parish. Judges with cases of clear evidence of guilt but resulting in acquittals should be scrutinized investigating cases that take. Too long to go to trial. As I mentioned, nine of these ten escapees were sitting in jail waiting to go to trial. Had they gone to trial, had they been convicted, had they been sentenced, they will most likely not be in Orleans Parish jail, but in. Our custody in one of the state penitentiaries.

21:23 Addressing judges' failures to revoke probation for violations. Last year, our Secretary of Corrections highlighted the lenient enforcement of probation terms for violent offenders and the need for appropriate sentences. I passed that letter out to the press it was in December of last year, to both the District Attorney and to the judges. I urged both the Arleys Parish District. Attorney and the Criminal District Court to reevaluate the sentencing and take probation violations seriously. Probation should not be used to keep violent criminals from going to jail. I repeat probation is not for violent criminals. The docket is also a key. My understanding is that the Orleans Parish Jail is beyond capacity because again the cases are not moving, such as nine of the ten escapees.

22:28 Now. There is no excuse for the escape of these violent offenders. There is also no excuse for the way these cases are currently being mismanaged in our criminal justice system, whether it's an escapeee or a release. We deserve the public deserves to know why, and not just in Orleans Parish, but around the rest of the state as well. That brings us to a data issue. I'm also requesting that the Metropolitan Crime Commission work in the most violent crime cities in the state to establish a data modeling system similar to what they're doing here in our Leans. This will include regular reporting of crime data from the point of arrests to the point of conviction.

23:22 I'm hoping. That not only summer, but some sunlight has arrived in Louisiana. In closing, I continue to believe that our citizens want law and order, They want security in their neighborhoods, and they want safe streets for their children. The frustration grows with a broken criminal justice system, our taxpayers and our citizens to serve transparency and accountability. The issues that I have laid out and the executive orders that we will follow will demand that this city has misled, has been misled by those who pour out of state money funding the promise of justice reform, electing officials with no frontline experience, and those who panned their voters lead to lack of safety and order, which is why we are standing here today, which is why so many of our law enforcement agencies have to comb this city, in this street.

24:32 Hunting down some of the most dangerous criminals. The rony. Of the progressive promises that have been made to this city is clear. New Orleans handed the jail. Keys to those who vowed to keep criminals out of jail, and sadly. Today we show that it worked. I hope that everyone understands that the video of those prisoners escapee epitomizes a progressive criminal justice system. I again would ask the public for their prayers and thoughts of all of those law enforcement agents who are working diligently to hunt down these fugitives. We will find them and we will bring them back to justice. And to repeat what the colonel said, if anybody harbors them, if anybody aiges them and we find out, we will arrest you and we will bring you to justice as well.

25:38 Thank you so in that he did mention a lot of things that would be great ideas, no doubt about it. Definitely there are problems with individuals taking too long to get through the justice system, but I feel like they still aren't getting to the heart of the problem, if you will, which is everything from lacks of days. Staff at that prison is shit just falling apart in there. I mean, there's no reason this should have happened. They shouldn't have been able to pull on a door to the point that they busted the lock. I mean, these are prison locks, they're not bike locks. And as I said, Governor Jeff Landry also went on the national media. He did a short interview with Fox News and here's what that sounded like.

26:27 Governor, welcome to you. I know we're welcoming you from the White House as you are joining the President for some events there today. First up, are you going to find all these guys? Oh? Yeah, we are going to find them at first So I want to thank the FBI, the US Marshalls atf the Louisiana State Police Troop Nola NPD. We have got hundreds of law enforcement agents that are working twenty four and seven around o'clock hunting these folks down. We were able to grab three of them right close within the first twenty five four hours after the jail break. Of course, you gotta remember, Sandra, we didn't know that they had left the jail, that they had walked out of the front door for about ten hours. We didn't get that report from the sheriff, and so those inmates had.

27:13 About a ten hour lead on law enforcement. But they're doing our folks are doing a great job, and we're gonna hunt them down. I mean, of course you got it, Jack, go ahead, Yeah, I mean, Governor, from the looks of it, you can tell us it doesn't look like this was a sophisticated, you know, jail break. I mean they're even bragging about how easy it was to get out of there. How did this happen? Well, look, I think if you look at the criminal justice system as a whole in New Orleans, you will see the problem. Several years ago, George Soros came over to New Orleans like Santa Claus that unpacked the district attorney, six judges, and a sheriff. And this is what criminal This is what progressive criminal, a progressive criminal justice system looks like, Sandra, this is what happens when those people promise that to keep criminals out of jail. Sadly, you get keen of the most dangerous inmates that are in jail in Louisiana, they get to escape, all right.

28:10 So this is a former FBI agent Bobby chacone on. He's suggesting on what the inmates may have had and what sort of help they may have had. Godn I listen here. They probably had help on the inside and the outside. So you know now that they had help on the inside getting out, and now they held at the jail both by the specific individuals and the system as a whole. Okay, So if it turns out that this was sort of some inside job, how will those who help them escape be held accountable? Oh? They will. They're going to go to jail as well. Look, we have put a twenty thousand dollars bounty on each one of the seven that are steel at large. That's very important, and that's what's working with.

28:53 The Attorney General is going to conduct a very very thorough investigation of what happened. Sure that once that investigation is complete, she will release it. You'll have plenty of things to talk about then. But not only those people who may have aided and a betted them to get out, but those who continue to aid and abet them if we find them, If we find that you have aided and a bed at these fugitives, you're going to jail as well. Well. We know that we know the records. We know they're bad guys. We've got them up on the screen. We know they're probably tired, probably hungry, probably pretty desperate. Right now, Governor, you have a tip line up. You're asking for any tip lines to come in. We know that they you know, one of the first guys caught in the hours we learned about this jail break was caught right there in a parking garage at a hotel in New Orleans, hiding under a car. But a lot of time has passed and they could be beyond state lines. Now, do you have any more information about where some of these people are.

29:49 We have been getting a lot of tips, and the tips have been coming in all day, all night long, and of course every time a tip comes in, our group, which is composed of federal, state, and local partners, start running those tips down. We have reason to believe that most of them are still in the state Louisiana, most of them most likely or in the city of New Orleans. We run down tips if we believe they're outside of that. We have notified other jurisdictions outside of Louisiana when those tips have come in and we believe that they may be say, in another state. But I can tell you, Sandro, We've got many women, women working around the clock. We're gonna hunt these folks down. We're going to find them and we're going to bring them back to a jail that they can't break out of.

30:30 Well, we have full confidence that'll be the case, and we know they're on it. We've got a live picture up by the way. We're told this is a news conference as beginning in your state shortly, Governor, with the District Attorney's office there in New Orleans. Hopefully they've got some news for us as soon as anything comes from there. We're going to go there live. Governor. Before you go, and I know you've got this event with the President there shortly, I want to ask you about this executive order that you've issued in your state directing state law enforcement agencies now to assist federal immigrants operations and enforcement, urging these local police authorities and agencies to join the federal effort on immigration. You're calling this effort Operation go geau X and describing it as a historical partnership with the federal government. What can you tell us about this and why is this so important to you?

31:21 Governor? Look, this has been something that's been in the works for quite some time. We want to stay inside by side with President Trump in making sure that those that have come into the country illegally and then commit acts of violence or acts of criminal acts, that we end up not only putting them in jail, but ending up deporting them as well. We want to do our part. We don't want people in our country that are breaking our criminal laws. We've got enough problems with American citizens who are breaking our criminal laws, and so we're standing side by side with the Trump administration. We have basically given our law enforcement agents in the state Louisiana the authority to enforce immigration laws. We're going to be working on. Some other issue, some other processes that would allow us to deport those that break the law in Louisiana, that being state criminal laws, and be able to deport them right away.

32:11 We're working with ICE to do that as. Well, and we'll give you an update on that soon. Yeah, and we know that this is a priority for so many Americans, and we saw that in the last election and it continues to be one of the biggest reasons that those voters are supporting President Trump today. Is immigration efforts. Governor, we appreciate your time today and thanks for the update from the great state of Louisiana. But in Washington, d C. Today at the White House, Governor, thank you, thank you. Now, nearly three days have passed before investigators had another breakthrough and a fourth man was taken into custody in New Orleans. And as I've told you, the first three escapees, Kendall Miles, Robert Moody, and the Keyan Dennis, they were captured on Friday May sixteenth. This fourth guy, Gary Price, he was apprehended on Monday, May nineteenth, and he was found hiding under a car in the French Quarter. So at this point in time, you've still got six escapees at large, and investigators by this time they know it was an inside job of some sort. They're gathering some evidence and this leads to the following arrest affidavit for the arrest of Sterling Williams. And I'm going to cover that affidavit. I have it in front of me. It's relatively short, and here's how it read. On Friday May sixteenth, twenty twenty five, at approximately four o'clock pm, the Louisiana

33:43 Bureau of Investigation special Agent and it redacts the name was assigned an investigation involving the escape of ten inmates from the Orleans Parish Correctional Center. According to initial information, the ten inmates escaped from the correction center at approximately one oh one am on five, sixteen twenty five. Initial information received from OPSO Sheriff indicated that the inmates escape by removing a seat toilet combination unit from a cell, then using an unknown apparatus to saw steel bars behind the cell room sinc. After bending the bars, the inmates escaped to the outdoor unsecured pipewalk area, before eventually scaling the jail wall to complete the escape. Agents were assigned to review information in an attempt to determine if anyone from the staff or outside personnel assisted in the escape.

34:42 During a mirandized interview with Williams, referring to Sterling Williams, he explained to agents that he turned off the water from outside pipewalk area on the exterior of Cell six under direction of a light skinned blackmail with tach who's on his face, who he named as Quote Massey formerly known as Antwin Massey, who threatened to shank him if he did not turn the water off. Massey was one of ten inmates who escaped opso. Additionally, Williams was observed on video surveillance footage in the one D pod standing in the open door talking with Derek Groves and Twine Massey and another unidentified inmate. Williams stated at that time Groves tried to take his phone from him and attempted to get Williams to bring a book with cash app information to his cousin in the next pod over. In closing, Williams confessed to agents that he did, in fact go to the pipe chase via the outside door on the rear loading dock and turn off the water by closing the valve. By turning off the water to sell six, Williams willfully and maliciously assisted with the escape of ten inmates.

35:58 With the water being turned off, the inmates were able to successfully make good on their escape. Williams admitted to agents he committed the acts after he was directed to do so by one of the inmates who escaped in Twan Massey. Because of Williams's actions, ten inmates from Orleans Paris Sheriff's Office Correctional Center were able to escape from the plumbing area where Williams turned the water off at the behest of massy. If the inmates removed the sink in the cell and disconnected the rest of the plumbing with the water still on, the plan to escape would not have been successful and potentially flooded the cell, drawing the attention to their actions. For these reasons, agents believe Williams to be a principal two ten counts of simple escape. Additionally, due to the fact that Williams acted under the order of an inmate to turn the water off in Cell six, the cell of the inmates used to execute the plan is in violation of mouth seasons in the office. Furthermore, Weiams did not notify authorities of the plan the inmates had to escape. Instead, he committed the acts that ultimately assisted the inmates with making good on their escapes. Williams did not come forward, and when confronted by agents, Williams was initially very evasive and untruthful, but eventually became forthcoming and provided evidentiary information period And this guy is now in a world of shit. And I'm going to tell

37:30 you how goofy some of the news media can be I'm about to play you another clip featuring Attorney General Liz Murrell, who you haven't heard from yet. She was holding a press conference on this very arrest. And one of the questions asked in this press conference by a reporter, well, I can only say he alluded to the fact that maybe this guy didn't deserve to be arrested because he says he was threatened to be shanked. And then this Oloran reporter, in my opinion, goes on to say, I mean, if it were me, I'd probably turn off the water if I was threatened to be shanked. I mean, you can't make that shit up. That's a stupid statement by that reporter. All that guy had to do was report that that he just got threatened to be shanked, and the dude that threatened him would have been dealt with. Now, granted, this guy wasn't a correctional officer. He was a maintenance worker at the facility, employed by the facility, but it's still no excuse. So here's that press conference in full, and I'm going to play it in full because there's a lot of good questions and answers back and forth from reporters and Liz murrel that you really need to hear.

38:42 Once again, This is the Attorney General holding a presser on the arrest of maintenance worker Sterling Williams. All Right, so my office today announced that we booked an individual last night and processed him on ten counts of principle to escape from a penal institution, and we've also charged him with one count of malfeasance in office. That individual was a maintenance worker at the facility and we believe him to have been involved in turning the water off in connection with this event. This investigation is still an ongoing investigation and so there could be. More arrests that will follow. Those charges could also be upgraded or changed or attitude.

39:26 So I'm happy to take any questions that you have. Has this chiny general high the individual who left to go getting food that card been suspended. That's the personnel side of things you have to ask the sheriff about. So that's an administrative question. I mean, we haven't filed charges against anybody else yet. That's on the staff the Sheriff's office had directed at that. Basically, well, if they suspended the person as an administrative manner that matter, than the Sheriff's office shell to be able to confirm. That fuse good. Question One, is mister william collaborating with the investigation. No, we're talking about it's sort of things that happened.

40:09 Prior to the escapement. And number two, what do you buy. Of his uh saying that that you had to do this because one of the escapees threatned to shanky. Oh? Look, I think that he made some bad decisions. I mean, I don't think that he had to do any of the things that he did. And you know, if he was under threat. Then he certainly should have brought that to someone else's attention. But you know, our. The facts that I'm aware of indicate that there were multiple opportunities to do that, to bring it to the attention of authorities. If he wants to bring that up in his defense, then that's a matter for his defense attorneys.

40:51 I'm not going to speak to the conversations that we've had with the individual. Did mister Williams have charge it before any pre dios criminal records. Not that I'm aware of. You used the term maliciously assisted in the affid David, And I know he described the reason why he did this as him being threatened to have been shaked. I know that if I was put in a position, I would be, you know, really disturbed and not knowing what to do. You know, why would you use the word maliciously? Look, it's I think it's legal terms for the report. Maliciously assisted in an escape means you intended to assist ten individuals to escape from a penal institution like I don't, or from a jail or you know, a prison. Since we've had these conversations about jail's, prisons and different facilities, but you know he intended to assist these individuals to leave that facility.

41:44 That's why we use those terms. Attorney General Milkate with New Nation, just wondering in the arrest AFFI David it said that he was untruthful. Did he originally lie to investigators? As I appreciated, he denied his involvement in the outset, but he's now you know, we've gotten more information and that's the basis for the arrest. Can you starve some those estions of other people. Who are under investigation, so what their dogs might be the. Les I really can't speak to the details of that. I can tell you that we have and still are conducting a very thorough investigation of the staff. My investigation won't just stop with the acute event. We will also look at broader conditions at the facility, and I'm also looking at contributing factors that may not be in the control of the sheriff at that facility, like the number of people that she has housed there and how long they're staying there and what they're there for, and whether there's a backlog in the court system that could address some of this problems. So at the acute event, what the contributing individuals were, what their participation was, everything that happened before these ten people climbed over that wall.

42:57 But that will also back out. Into other things that might be contributing to conditions at the prison. I know that the sheriff has indicated that she has concerns about locks on doors, and she's been asking to replace those. The governor is sending in an audit team so that he can look at those facility questions and make sure that we can address those problems. Our intent is to make sure that this never happens again, and so you know, we're going to look at all the things that we need to do to change those conditions and at the same time hold everyone accountable that may have been involved before, during, and after. Can you believe they're still in Moorland at this time? Before the rowboats? The State Police have been leading the command, and the US Marshals I think are involved in that. My office has been involved with providing some resources in that pursuit.

43:46 So I really couldn't tell you. I think they've had the capacity to leave the city, that just the time involved with them being out gives them the capacity to leave. Now, the reality of that is they have to get resources to be able to leave. And we have cautioned uh. Everyone I think has been clear that if you are assisting these individuals or having assisted these individuals, you should stop. If you if you are assisting them, then we're going to a restroom. We're going to prosecute you for assisting in the escape. Uh. So you know that's that's not a good thing to do for anybody, is to continue to help them. Uh. And and I think the more help they get, the more likely it is that they're able to move further away, ma'am. If I remember the governor asking hang on, the governor saying just a couple of days ago that this is probably the largest prison break in state's history. When was the last time that there was a prison break this big?

44:38 And how long did it take the catch everyone? You know, my research indicates that the lark and you can check this. I mean, I just kind of ran a quick search on it. I can't find a larger one in the entire country, not just in the in the state. But three people is the max that I was able to confirm of the last one. And I couldn't tell you which one it was, but the maximum number was three. So you know, I have. Emphasized to everybody involved, including the sheriff and and and everybody else, that. This is a big deal. It is a big deal, and and I don't think anybody thinks that it's not. You know, there's still six people that are out. We need to find them. There are a lot of people, including the district attorney, who are rightfully very uncomfortable and worried about his staff and his own safety and his family. They're witnesses and victims, and all of those people are very rightfully, very.

45:33 Unnerved by all of this. And so time is of the essence, and we are doing everything within our power, all the boots are on the ground to try and recover these individuals, and all the resources that are at our disposable, including working with the FBI. To recover them. Can you let me he he had a question first, Let me sure. Okay, Wally chefs have centered with not built to be I'm axim security prison. Fat in mind why we're so big. State inmates still palace at the jail post convictions. So there weren't a lot of state inmates there to my as my understanding is the total number of DOC classified inmates was right around sixty. This is a facility that is approved to house fourteen hundred people and it was about at that capacity.

46:25 So sixty is not a lot of DOC inmates. The reason for them being there, I can't speak to the Department of Corrections can but it may be that they were being held there pre trial for other charges, for all violations, things like that. Those are some of the reasons why you might have somebody in a local jail that's at capacity like that, and so you know they have been removed. They were removed over the weekend. Sixty people is not going to reduce the number enough. I would like to see it reduced a significantly higher number, and I'm looking at some of the potential ways to do that. Please speak to what. Kind of ideal process he would say, Please the games Williams.

47:06 As far as him having rewarded that could bladedly corrected in the way by mister fancy, what would you like to be happening? You know, I can't speak to what he could or would have should have done. I really can't. I mean, he made decisions. You know that's going to play itself out in the prosecution of his case. I'm sure that you know he will. He will engage in that discussion. And I don't really know exactly, you know, when he thinks he when he says he was threatened, how long that went on, what choices he might have made every single day that he didn't make the choice to report it. I mean, I just don't have answers for those questions. Uh, that'll play out in his actual defense and his prosecution.

47:48 When the audit supposed to begin. To know what it is. My understanding is that the governor was sending in an audit team to audit the facility and staffing issues and those kinds of questions and also to look at how that that complies or those things. We're compliant with the basic jail guidelines US as as soon as this morning, so they may already be in that facility and having that conversation. That is certainly going to be relevant to my and you know investigation as well. But I think they are the right people to do this. He's bringing in facility UH, corrections professionals who understand what it takes to run a jail. You know, staffing issues are an issue for everybody. The State Department of Correction struggles with that.

48:32 Local other sheriffs do struggle with that. But you know, part of the answer is you've got to bring the people down to meet your staffing levels and make sure that you are able to properly manage that facility. We need to look at what the level of threat those people have that are in that facility. Uh And and so I'll be looking at all of those things. You know. One of the issues that I've already looked at and that I'm continuing to look at. Conversation that needs to continue is with the court system. We have one judge who I know the Crime Commission issue to report on a couple of weeks ago had a docket that had over seven hundred cases dating back to twenty sixteen. My understanding, and I'm still trying to verify this number at the prison, is that over four hundred individuals on that docket may be in custody at the prison. That's almost a third to a fourth of the total census at the prison in that one judge's docket. So you know, I'm going to be appealing to the Supreme Court to help manage this issue as well. I think this requires everybody who has the ability to contribute to solving this problem to contribute what they can, and so I certainly will be looking at what all the contributing factors are. We will be focusing in my criminal investigation on what criminal involvement there is. But at the end of the day, what we really want to do is make sure that this can't happen again, and that means anybody who can contribute to solving that problem needs to be part of that.

50:03 And speaking of that, ma'am, right now as we speak, there's a very dramatic. City council meeting that's going on. The city is you know, kind of at odds with each other over just a really egregious lack of of what the sheriff says of lack of funding over years and years and years that has led this brand new, you know. Ten year old jail to be decrepit. Do you feel like the state and city partnership here has on that space at this point with. How this was all managed over. The yere You know, look, I wouldn't agree with the description that this is a decrepit facility. It's not, and there are some issues with it, and there are some issues that I think the sheriff has raised. There is a lot of money that's used to fund this prison.

50:51 I would like to take a look at the funding and compare it to other prisons that were running local jails that we're running around the state. Look at what their population is, how much it costs to run that jail. You know, you can compare their numbers. Now, it's not apples to apples when you've got a rural facility compared to an urban facility. You've got to look at who they are, what they're being held for, what the nature of the crimes are that they've been accused of. To understand their level of. Threat This facility was built, as I appreciate it, and with an understanding that it was going to have some high threat individuals in it. So I don't think that it's fair to say that this is simply a minimum security prison. It's got to have features in it that will handle people who need higher security measures. How they were doing that inside the prison, I can't answer that yet.

51:44 I did watch parts of that council hearing. I think that, you know, I'm someone who believes that fiscal transparency is a given. Uh, this is taxpayer money. It is a lot of money, and I think that, you know, we ought to be able to see exactly how that money is being spent. And I promise you that with all of the attention that is now being given to this, everyone's going to be looking. At that, you know. I mean, it's it's not just going to be a city. Council sheriff discussion that happens month to month to month. I mean, everybody's looking at it, and the Governor's audit team is going to have I think a significant thing to say about the running of the facility, the staffing of the facility, and the funding of the facility.

52:27 The sheriff is going to come to this esteem given the fact that we've had two New Orleans area of allmakers now calling with you or there are futs of resignation. What are some of your thoughts about whether it's your. Pretiay, I'm not gonna, you know, answer questions about that. I don't think it's appropriate for me to answer that question. I think that you know, I'm focused on my job right now, which is conducting an investigation inside the prison. And I will say that the sheriff has been cooperative from the beginning. I came in on Friday afternoon. With my people. I I have been very clear that I believe this investigation should be independent of the Sheriff's department. But you know, there are some people there that are being very very helpful.

53:10 Uh. We need to understand what they do, why they do it, how they operate. I appreciate that cooperation and and so, you know, I want to continue to facilitate a productive relationship with the sheriff. I know that she is addressing you know, the issues as best she can right now, and and and what that means for her in the future is not is not my concern right now. Look, look, we're all the captain of our own ships. And I think she took responsibility at the at the hearing today and said, I take responsibility for what happened. That's appropriate if it was me.

53:53 I think you have to do that. You are the captain of your own ship with the family. Inmates, the victims that your offens been in contract with, any. Of them, the the inmates who escaped, the victims of those inmates that are still on the run. No. I know that the Orleans Parish Police Department and the District Attorney's office has been engaging quite a bit with victims related to the crimes of which these people are accused. I do intend to have my office engage on that as well. I want to make sure that those families feel like they're being adequately taken care of, that there are resources that are being provided to them.

54:35 I will also have some outreach to some of the public officials. I'm going to meet with District Attorney Jason Williams this afternoon after this and we're going to have a discussion about some things that I think are within his and my control in terms of case management and things like that on some of these cases. So you know, I think everybody needs to make we need to be making sure that everybody who feels threatened by this directly because they have some direct involvement with the escapees, is that their concerns are being addressed. I know that, I know that the four immediate sense that captured are at stated the ability talently. Three of them are Angual itself. Are you part of that that there isn't an overall because that's the most secure place that they view.

55:19 I do think it's the most secure place that they can be. I think it's the appropriate place for them to be. Uh. I didn't make the decision about where they would be, but I certainly had an opinion that they shouldn't be back in Orleans Parish prison, and that given their propensity to escape, that they should be held in the most uh secure place possible and that's Angola. Katie, Okay, Given you talked about how witnesses are concerned, families of victims are concerned. Some families have described themselves as going into hiding. Are you fearful for your safety as a result of these people being there?

56:00 I'm not fearful for my safety. I am concerned about the safety of all of these individuals who have a direct relationship with these individuals cases. I think that is a. Fair concern of theirs. I think all of the you know, the ada's and the District Attorney's office is also there are a court there. You know, there might be court officials and judges who also are on edge. That is obviously a fair concern for them, and so, you know, I do want to make sure that all of. Those people feel like they have the resources that they need and that they are protected. As long as these individuals are out, they will be pretty edgy and legitimately, so so you know, I'm going to do everything that I can to address those concerns.

56:43 I know the Governor's committed to that as well. I haven't seen anybody quite frankly who isn't, so you know, but I also am continuing to encourage all the public officials, the city council, the court system, the federal court system, the sheriff, the district attorney. You know, we all need to be able to pull together to figure out what role we can play to address this problem and have a short term plan, an intermediate term plan, and a long term plan to deal with this facility it's not the first time that we've had issues. We all know that there are some known issues. With this particular facility, so you know, it's got everybody's attention. We need to address the problem. And finally, one thing I really want to ask them.

57:25 The sheriff said today in the city council meeting that they're admitting that there were no proper patrols that were made that night to go and check on folks inside the prison. Given that information other information. You've been gathering in your investigation, you talked about there's the potential for more charges to be forthcoming. Can you explain. Can you elaborate what other charges might come, who else might be charged? I can't speak to that. It's a continuing investigation. We will pursue every avenue and we will determine whether the conduct is chargeable as a criminal charge or it's you know, something that falls below the level of criminal malfeasance or direct involvement with the escape. So that is part of why I will eventually issue a comprehensive report and I will bring you know everything basically that I've been able to collect and can address the problems that I've identified. If we find individuals whose conduct rises to the level of what I would consider to be chargeable malfeasance, then we will charge that.

58:29 So of course, with these escapes, everybody blames everybody as far as politicians are concerned, and no exception will be the council in the Orleans pair sheriff and they're sparring over the escape and how the budget affects that, and I got to agree with that to some extent. You can only do what you can do with so much money. But that being said, I don't know what their budget is, but it's not like they're getting pennies. But even though the sheriff said, I take this on me, it was on my watch, it's my responsibility. All that's true, and credit to her for taking ownership of that. But you know, then she follows that up with the reason that it happened was funding shortfalls, and that is not the reason this happened. The reason this happened is because there was help on the inside. You hired someone that you shouldn't have hired, and in addition to that, you have a lot of lasadaisical people somewhere along the way that weren't paying fucking attention let's be honest, now, what's the biggest risk here. As you've heard in some of the clips that I played you, it's the victims out there. It's the witnesses that are out there, especially because some of these guys, they're going to go hunting for some of those people that maybe they got to worry about testifying against them. Not all these guys have convictions, and they're

1:00:02 going to attempt to eliminate them in all likelihood in the hopes that they're going to get out of trouble. As it relates to major murder chargers, it's hard to be convicted of murder if there's no witnesses. I mean, this is really no joke. And as of this recording, five of these guys are still on the loose. Now one has been captured just prior to this recording, So still on the loose Leo Tate, Jermaine Donald, Derek Grows, Lenton Van Buren, and Antoine Massey. And it makes you wonder how they still remain on the run. How are they free this long? And obviously they have help, there's no doubt about it. At this point these guys likely are long gone. Maybe not, but if I'm escaping from Orleans Parish prison. I want you to take me to Mexico, where I want you to definitely want to get out of state of Louisiana. Hopefully they'll be captured soon, and of course I'm going to keep you updated in the event that they are. Thank you so much for listening.

1:01:14 Check out the Patreon for commercial, free early releases and Morepatreon dot com slash Bloody and Gola Podcast and until next time, I'm Jim Chapman for Bloody and Gola Podcast, a podcast on forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest present. Peace a wall, Street line, shackle chain, it's calling my name.

1:02:03 There is no mercy and this being a tentery juice as the huge string game Rangle three, I'm. Here forf I'm here to die. Inside these walls, inside the wild. And when the war. As I know, it's old Body, angle, obody, angle, and do