In New Orleans, 10 inmates, at least one a convicted murderer, broke out of a jail -- and officials say there are indications they had inside help. Scribbled on the wall where they escaped, a message was left saying 'too easy, LOL'.

New Orleans

Ten inmates have escaped from a jail in New Orleans, including at least one convicted murderer. Officials report that there are indications of possible inside assistance in the breakout. Obscene messages were left scrawled on the walls by the inmates, including one that read "too easy, LOL".

Authorities state that the inmates escaped by removing a toilet in their cell and cutting a hole in the wall large enough to crawl through. The prisoners exited the facility through a supply door, scaled a wall, and crossed a nearby interstate. The escape was not discovered until a headcount took place seven hours after the inmates had left, and public notification occurred two hours after that.

Among those still at large are three individuals accused of murder. One inmate was apprehended in a hotel garage in the French Quarter. Police consider the escapees armed and dangerous.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office attributes the security breach in part to underfunding, stating that they have been requesting support from the city for five years. The sheriff estimates that replacing the jail’s locks alone would cost approximately $5.2 million.

Officials are also investigating whether construction work at a nearby facility, which is being built to house inmates with mental health issues, played a role in the escape. It is being considered whether the escapees obtained power tools from the site. The Louisiana attorney general has described the jailbreak as unacceptable and expressed concern about the delay in notifying the public.



'Too easy': Inmates escape New Orleans prison

In New Orleans, 10 inmates, at least one of them, a convicted murderer, broke out of a jail and officials say there are indications they had inside help. The escape was first noticed at a headcount this morning, but the police were not informed until two hours later. Katie Weiss is in New Orleans. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office says the prisoners removed a toilet in this cell and cut a hole in the thin wall they could crawl through. The inmates scrawled obscene messages for the guards. One was misspelled, too easy. Sheriff Susan Hudson. They were still able to exit the jail about 1 a.m. After breaching a wall behind a toilet in the jail, they were seeing exiting a door on the docks where we normally bring in supplies, scaling a wall and running across the interstate shortly thereafter. The jailbreak wasn't detected until guards did a morning headcount seven hours after the escape. Nine total hours passed before the sheriff alerted the public. You've got to go inside the facility, be able to see they could have been anywhere. Then we had to first prioritize talking to victims to make sure they were safe. One inmate was captured hiding under a car in a hotel garage in the French Quarter. Among those on the loose are three accused of murder. Derek Groves was convicted in a twenty eighteen Mardi Gras shooting. Police believe the escapees are armed and dangerous. We do acknowledge there is no way people can get out of this facility without there being some type of lapse in security. The sheriff's office is laying blame on the city for not funding prison security upgrades, saying they've been asking for help for five years. You said you've been asking for money for a long time. How much money do you need at this point? The locks alone, I believe, are five point two million. Yeah, just a lot. One point two million just for the five point two million five point two. And Louisiana's attorney general has called this prison break unacceptable, saying that the public should have been notified sooner. John Maurice and Katie, you were telling us earlier today that some construction work on site may hold some key clues in the case. Absolutely. Just a block away from here, the prison is currently undergoing a construction of a new facility for specific inmates that are facing mental health issues. And as a result of that, one of the things that's under investigation is whether or not these inmates were able to obtain power tools from that site. That's still something that they're going to keep looking into. But until then, the fact that they were able to scale one of these prison walls has everyone concerned.

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