A New Orleans sheriff has been indicted on 30 felony counts in connection with a jailbreak last May in which 10 inmates escaped.
On Wednesday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson had been indicted by a special grand jury convened to investigate the May 16 escape at the Orleans Justice Center.
“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.
The 30-count indictment charges include malfeasance in public office, filing or maintaining false records, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit these alleged offenses. Her bond was set at $300,000.
The sheriff's chief financial officer, Bianka Brown, was also indicted on the same charges but on 20 counts. Her bond was set at $200,000.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether either defendant had legal representation. The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it is "aware of the recent legal developments involving Sheriff Hutson and CFO Brown."
"Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, OPSO will not comment on the specifics of the case," the statement added.
In their May escape, inmates were seen on security video fleeing the jail and had left crude graffiti that boasted “To Easy Lol,” over the hole through which they escaped. The inmates, whose ages ranged from 19 to 42, were all eventually recaptured by October.
Murrill added in her statement that she was discussing how to improve the jail's security with Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork.
Both defendants have a status hearing Thursday morning in New Orleans and both were ordered to surrender their passports.
The inmates were able to escape about 1 a.m. May 16 thanks to defective locks in the cell that allowed them to break a door open. They then got through a hole in a wall that was accessed by them moving a toilet.
They were only discovered missing during a routine headcount at 8:30 a.m. that day.
Authorities have also accused a former maintenance worker at the jail of helping the inmates escape by cutting water from the cell’s pipes so the toilet could be moved. Sterling Williams, 34, remains in custody on charges of simple escape, according to Orleans Parish jail records. He’s awaiting trial in July.
Williams’ attorney, Michael Kennedy, applauded Hutson’s indictment, saying his client initially took the fall but “was not in charge of a damn thing.” He said systemic problems within the jail were well-known.
“Am I glad to see she’s being taken to task and held accountable for her multiple failures of her tenure? Yes, absolutely,” Kennedy told NBC News.
Hutson, who lost a re-election campaign and is due to leave her post, spoke to reporters following the escape and called it a "very serious and unacceptable situation."
She said in a farewell message Tuesday had the incident had "tested us to the limit" but added that her office "responded with professionalism, urgency and resilience, and we came out stronger because of it."
