New Orleans sheriff indicted after investigation into brazen jailbreak
and escape of 10 inmates
[April 30, 2026]
By JACK BROOK
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — 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.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson is not accused of helping the
inmates pull off the brazen jailbreak through a hole behind a toilet,
setting off a monthslong search before all the escapees were eventually
captured. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said a state probe
instead found that Hutson’s poor management of the jail led to the
escape.
The 30-count indictment handed up by a New Orleans grand jury charges
Hutson with malfeasance, obstruction of justice and falsifying public
records.
“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 said in a statement.
Huston's office did not immediately respond to phone calls, text
messages and emails seeking comment. Court records did not list a
personal attorney for Huston, who lost her reelection campaign and is
set to leave office on Monday.
In a farewell address Tuesday, Hutson said her office faced numerous
challenges and said the jailbreak “tested us to the limit.” She added
that her office “responded with professionalism, urgency and resilience,
and we came out stronger because of it.”
Court records show bond for Hutson has been set at $300,000 and that she
was ordered to turn in her passport and not leave the state. Bianka
Brown, the chief financial officer of the sheriff's office, was also
indicted on 20 similar charges. She did not immediately respond to phone
calls and text messages sent to numbers associated with her.
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Sheriff Susan Hutson speaks at a City Council meeting following the
escape of 10 inmates from the Orleans Parish Justice Center, at City
Hall in New Orleans, May 20, 2025. (Sophia Germer/The
Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP, File)
The escapees left behind graffiti that read “To Easy LoL" after
crawling through a hole behind a jail toilet and scaling a barbed
wire fence. The jail did not realize the inmates were missing for
more than seven hours.
State officials and some city leaders accused Hutson of poor
management and criticized her for not alerting police and other
authorities in a timely manner. Hutson initially blamed political
opponents for being behind the jailbreak without providing any
evidence to support her claim. She also said faulty door locks
enabled the escape and added that she had been seeking funding to
improve the jail's ailing infrastructure.
The Orleans Parish jail system had been plagued by violence,
corruption and dysfunction for decades and was placed under federal
oversight in 2013. But problems persisted despite tens of millions
of dollars in investment and the opening of a new jail facility in
2015. Federally-appointed monitors warned of the jail's inadequate
staffing, lax supervision and a skyrocketing number of "internal
escapes" in the two years leading up to the jailbreak.
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