Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson faces 30 felony charges including malfeasance in office, obstruction of justice, and maintaining false public records after 10 dangerous inmates—including convicted murderers—escaped from her facility last May in a brazen jailbreak that exposed catastrophic security failures.
How 10 Murderers Escaped
Last spring, inmates at Orleans Justice Center discovered bolts had been removed from the outside of a jail wall. Security footage captured the prisoners ripping a door open before squeezing through a hole hidden behind a toilet. The escapees—Antoine Massey, Lenton Venburen, Leo Tate, Kendell Myles, Derrick Groves, Jermaine Donald, Corey Boyd, Gary Price, Robert Moody, Dkenan Dennis, and Keith Lewis—vanished into the night. Investigators immediately focused on who had access to remove those exterior bolts.
Law enforcement eventually recaptured all ten escapees. Thirteen people were charged with helping the inmates both inside the jail and once they were at large. But the investigation didn’t stop there. A special grand jury continued examining what went wrong at the facility and who bore responsibility for the security breakdown that allowed violent criminals to walk free.
Sheriff and CFO Both Indicted
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson was indicted on 30 felony counts by a special grand jury investigating the jailbreak. The charges include malfeasance in office, filing or maintaining false public records, and obstruction of justice. Bianka Brown, the chief financial officer for the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, was also indicted on 20 similar felony charges. The Louisiana Attorney General’s office announced both indictments, signaling the investigation uncovered evidence of official misconduct beyond simple negligence.
Accountability or Cover-Up?
The indictments raise serious questions about oversight and accountability in Louisiana’s criminal justice system. When convicted murderers escape custody because someone removed bolts from the outside of a jail wall, taxpayers deserve answers. The charges against both the sheriff and the chief financial officer suggest systemic failures rather than isolated lapses. With all ten escapees now back in custody and criminal charges filed against those who helped them, attention turns to the trial that will determine whether Orleans Parish’s top law enforcement officials deliberately obstructed the investigation into their own facility’s catastrophic security failure.
