New Orleans DA pulls out of jailbreak investigation amid conflict of
interest allegation
[May 31, 2025]
By JACK BROOK
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Facing allegations of a conflict of interest, Orleans
Parish District Attorney Jason Williams removed himself this week from a
Louisiana Attorney General-led investigation into the massive jailbreak
that saw 10 men escape a New Orleans jail earlier this month.
Gov. Jeff Landry ordered an investigation into the jailbreak several
days after the inmates escaped on May 16. Williams had initially
described the inquiry as a “joint effort” with the Attorney General Liz
Murrill and toured the jail with her as part of the probe.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson accused Williams' role in the
investigation as being “fueled by personal animus and political
campaigning” according to a court filing earlier this week reviewed by
The Associated Press. Williams denied these allegations.
Earlier this year, Williams endorsed his employee Michelle Woodfork to
replace Hutson as sheriff in 2026. Woodfork declined to comment.
In a statement, Williams said the recusal motion had not been granted
because there were “no legal grounds to support it.”
Judge Nandi Campbell, who received the motion for recusal, declined to
comment.
Williams and Hutson dispute the timeline and reasons for his withdrawal
from the investigation.
Williams said he removed himself due to its “multi-jurisdictional
nature" — citing a separate jailbreak that occurred earlier this month
in another Louisiana parish — and has deferred to Murrill.
Williams said his office engaged in the investigation “to ensure that no
evidence was lost or compromised” after the breakout.
He criticized Hutson for not “immediately” requesting an “independent
forensic processing” of the facility, where inmates had yanked open a
cell door and crawled through a hole cut from behind a toilet.
Authorities have arrested a maintenance worker for allegedly aiding in
the escape.
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New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams talks during a news
conference at his office, Jan. 19, 2022, in New Orleans. (Chris
Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP, File)
“It’s hard not to see this agency as anything but compromised until
any bad actors have been identified and rooted out," Williams said
of the sheriff's office.
At a press conference the day of the escape on May 16, Hutson said
that she believed the timing of the jailbreak may have been
politically motivated.
Hutson’s motion for recusal says that Williams’ investigation had
given an “unfair advantage to his preferred candidate” and would be
a “strain” on the resources of the sheriff's office.
Hutson’s allegations against Williams come after local and state
officials heaped criticism on Hutson’s management of the jail and
her office’s hourslong delay in notifying authorities of the escape.
While Hutson has sought to blame the escape on a lack of funding to
help make urgent improvements to faulty locks and ailing jail
infrastructure, city and state leaders have generally disputed this
characterization.
Murrill said in a Thursday statement that she is heading the
investigation to provide “accountability” and “recommendations” to
the state and the city “to ensure that an escape like this never
happens again.”
Hutson said that she “welcomes the oversight of the Attorney
General’s Office and remains fully committed to cooperating with all
relevant authorities.”
The Orleans Parish jail system, long plagued by dysfunction, has
been under federal oversight since 2013.
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