Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 2: Me to die.
Speaker 3: Inside these walls.
Speaker 4: Inside the wild.
Speaker 3: And went no girl as I.
Speaker 5: 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
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.
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,
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.
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.
Speaker 6: 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.
Speaker 4: We are actively working.
Speaker 6: With local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in a
full scale search operation.
Speaker 4: While we are in.
Speaker 6: 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.
Any lapses or failures that contributed to this incident will
be addressed swiftly and with full accountability.
Speaker 4: The next steps are.
Speaker 6: 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.
Speaker 7: 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.
Speaker 5: All of these are adult males, if you.
Speaker 8: 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.
Speaker 6: 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.
Speaker 5: Thank you, CHERYV. Good morning.
Speaker 9: I'm going to be very brief, so we do have
information on when the subjects left our custody.
Speaker 5: We are working every angle.
Speaker 9: 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.
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.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Major.
Speaker 6: 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.
Speaker 4: I want to thank our.
Speaker 6: 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.
Speaker 5: 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.
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
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.
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.
Listen to this brings us.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: What, and how this happened.
Speaker 10: The responsibility for answering those questions will fall to the
Attorney General.
Speaker 4: Her office will lead.
Speaker 10: 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.
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.
Speaker 4: Year and was awaiting sentencing.
Speaker 10: If he would have been sentenced by our court system,
he most likely would not have had an opportunity to escape.
Speaker 4: That's extremely important now.
Speaker 10: Once a person is booked, is arrested, is arrested in
booked case, then goes to the district Attorney or the
Attorney General.
Speaker 4: That is the second leg of our three legged stool.
Speaker 10: Prosecutors who dismiss cases and release violent criminals must be addressed.
Speaker 4: Five of these escapees.
Speaker 10: 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.
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.
Speaker 4: The third leg of our stool is our courts.
Speaker 10: Last year, I requested the Louisiana Supreme Court to do
an in depth review of the.
Speaker 4: Orleans criminal court system.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: By constitutional amendment.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: There should be an automatic review.
Speaker 10: Of any judge that has a disproportionate number of acquittals,
as we have seen here.
Speaker 4: In Orleans Parish.
Speaker 10: Judges with cases of clear evidence of guilt but resulting
in acquittals should be scrutinized investigating cases that take.
Speaker 4: Too long to go to trial.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: Our custody in one of the state penitentiaries.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: I urged both the Arleys Parish District.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: I'm hoping.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: Hunting down some of the most dangerous criminals. The rony.
Speaker 10: Of the progressive promises that have been made to this
city is clear.
Speaker 4: New Orleans handed the jail.
Speaker 10: Keys to those who vowed to keep criminals out of jail,
and sadly.
Speaker 4: Today we show that it worked.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 5: 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.
Speaker 3: Governor, welcome to you.
Speaker 2: 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?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: About a ten hour lead on law enforcement.
Speaker 10: But they're doing our folks are doing a great job,
and we're gonna hunt them down.
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 4: How did this happen?
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 4: They probably had help on the inside and the outside.
Speaker 12: 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.
Speaker 2: Okay, So if it turns out that this was sort
of some inside job, how will those who help them
escape be held accountable?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 5: They will.
Speaker 4: They're going to go to jail as well.
Speaker 10: Look, we have put a twenty thousand dollars bounty on
each one of the seven that are steel at large.
Speaker 4: That's very important, and that's what's working with.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: You'll have plenty of things to talk about then.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 8: Well.
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: We run down tips if we believe they're outside of that.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 3: We're going to go there live. Governor.
Speaker 2: 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?
Speaker 4: Governor?
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: We want to do our part.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: We're going to be working on.
Speaker 10: 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.
Speaker 4: We're working with ICE to do that as.
Speaker 10: Well, and we'll give you an update on that soon.
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 5: 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
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.
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.
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
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.
Once again, This is the Attorney General holding a presser
on the arrest of maintenance worker Sterling Williams.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: More arrests that will follow.
Speaker 13: Those charges could also be upgraded or changed or attitude.
So I'm happy to take any questions that you have.
Speaker 12: Has this chiny general high the individual who left to
go getting food that card been suspended.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: That's on the staff the Sheriff's office had directed at that.
Speaker 13: Basically, well, if they suspended the person as an administrative
manner that matter, than the Sheriff's office shell to be
able to confirm.
Speaker 4: That fuse good.
Speaker 12: Question One, is mister william collaborating with the investigation.
Speaker 5: No, we're talking about it's sort of things that happened.
Speaker 4: Prior to the escapement.
Speaker 5: And number two, what do you buy.
Speaker 12: Of his uh saying that that you had to do
this because one of the escapees threatned to shanky.
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 3: Look, I think that he made some bad decisions.
Speaker 13: I mean, I don't think that he had to do
any of the things that he did.
Speaker 3: And you know, if he was under threat.
Speaker 13: Then he certainly should have brought that to someone else's attention.
Speaker 3: But you know, our.
Speaker 13: 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.
I'm not going to speak to the conversations that we've
had with the individual.
Speaker 6: Did mister Williams have charge it before any pre dios
criminal records.
Speaker 3: Not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 14: 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?
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: That's why we use those terms.
Speaker 11: Attorney General Milkate with New Nation, just wondering in the
arrest AFFI David it said that he was untruthful.
Speaker 3: Did he originally lie to investigators?
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: Can you starve some those estions of other people.
Speaker 2: Who are under investigation, so what their dogs might be the.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: But that will also back out.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 11: Can you believe they're still in Moorland at this time?
Speaker 6: Before the rowboats?
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: So I really couldn't tell you.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: And we have cautioned uh.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 13: So you know that's that's not a good thing to
do for anybody, is to continue to help them.
Speaker 11: Uh.
Speaker 13: And and I think the more help they get, the
more likely it is that they're able to move further away, ma'am.
Speaker 15: 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?
And how long did it take the catch everyone?
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: So you know, I have.
Speaker 13: Emphasized to everybody involved, including the sheriff and and and
everybody else, that.
Speaker 3: This is a big deal.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: Unnerved by all of this.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: To recover them. Can you let me he he had
a question first, Let me sure.
Speaker 12: Okay, Wally chefs have centered with not built to be
I'm axim security prison.
Speaker 5: Fat in mind why we're so big.
Speaker 12: State inmates still palace at the jail post convictions.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: So sixty is not a lot of DOC inmates.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: They were removed over the weekend.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 4: Please speak to what.
Speaker 11: Kind of ideal process he would say, Please the games Williams.
As far as him having rewarded that could bladedly corrected
in the way by mister fancy, what would you like
to be happening?
Speaker 3: 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.
Speaker 13: You know that's going to play itself out in the
prosecution of his case.
Speaker 3: I'm sure that you know he will. He will engage
in that discussion.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 11: When the audit supposed to begin.
Speaker 15: To know what it is.
Speaker 13: 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.
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.
Speaker 3: Uh And and so I'll be looking at all of
those things.
Speaker 15: You know.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 15: And speaking of that, ma'am, right now as we speak,
there's a very dramatic.
Speaker 3: City council meeting that's going on.
Speaker 15: 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.
Speaker 3: Ten year old jail to be decrepit.
Speaker 15: Do you feel like the state and city partnership here
has on that space at this point with.
Speaker 3: How this was all managed over.
Speaker 13: 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.
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.
Speaker 3: Look at what their population is, how much it costs
to run that jail. You know, you can compare their numbers.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: To understand their level of.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: I did watch parts of that council hearing.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: At that, you know. I mean, it's it's not just
going to be a city.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 12: 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.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: With my people.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: I think you have to do that. You are the
captain of your own ship with the family.
Speaker 11: Inmates, the victims that your offens been in contract with, any.
Speaker 13: Of them, the the inmates who escaped, the victims of
those inmates that are still on the run.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: I will also have some outreach to some of the
public officials.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 11: 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.
Speaker 13: I do think it's the most secure place that they
can be. I think it's the appropriate place for them
to be.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 16: Katie, Okay, Given you talked about how witnesses are concerned,
families of victims are concerned.
Speaker 15: Some families have described themselves as going into hiding. Are
you fearful for your safety as a result of these
people being there?
Speaker 3: I'm not fearful for my safety.
Speaker 13: I am concerned about the safety of all of these
individuals who have a direct relationship with these individuals cases.
Speaker 3: I think that is a.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: That is obviously a fair concern for them, and so,
you know, I do want to make sure that all of.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: I know the Governor's committed to that as well.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 3: We all know that there are some known issues.
Speaker 13: With this particular facility, so you know, it's got everybody's attention.
Speaker 3: We need to address the problem. And finally, one thing
I really want to ask them.
Speaker 15: 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.
Speaker 3: Given that information other information.
Speaker 15: You've been gathering in your investigation, you talked about there's
the potential for more charges to be forthcoming.
Speaker 3: Can you explain.
Speaker 15: Can you elaborate what other charges might come, who else
might be charged?
Speaker 3: I can't speak to that. It's a continuing investigation.
Speaker 13: 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.
Speaker 5: 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
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.
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.
Speaker 1: Peace a wall, Street line, shackle chain, it's calling my name.
There is no mercy and this being a tentery juice
as the huge string game Rangle three, I'm.
Speaker 5: Here forf I'm here to die.
Speaker 1: Inside these walls, inside the wild.
Speaker 11: And when the war.
Speaker 4: As I know, it's old
Speaker 1: Body, angle, obody, angle, and do