Louisiana inmates used hair trimmers in efforts to escape from New Orleans jail, source says

By Ryan Young, Jason Morris CNN

The 10 inmates who broke out of a New Orleans jail in a stunning overnight escape last week used electric hair trimmers with multiple clipper blades to help cut their way through the cell walls, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation told CNN.

Investigators continue to comb through previous jail phone recordings and believe that other incarcerated inmates or employees at the jail could face additional charges for their role assisting in the May 16 escape and initial cover-up in the hours following the jailbreak, according to the source.

Those inmates are believed to have placed the toilet back on the wall after the jailbreak to conceal the hole behind the toilet that escapees used to break free.

In addition, the inmates also provided towels to the escapees which were used to help them scale the barbed wire fence surrounding the Orleans Parish Jail, the source told CNN.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the Orleans Justice Center jail facility, has not responded to CNN’s questions about the details surrounding the escape, including whether inmates are allowed to have access to electric hair trimmers and barber equipment.

Authorities continued to search for five of the escapees as of Friday afternoon. Five others have been recaptured and are being held without bond at the maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill visited the Orleans Justice Center earlier this week as part of the ongoing investigation into the escape.

The district attorney said Thursday the director of the New Orleans Police Department Crime Lab visited the jail to begin a formal forensic processing of the scene, which he said was not requested by the sheriff’s office.

Williams formally asked the sheriff’s office to voluntarily cooperate with the forensic analysis, including by sharing any records of staff fingerprints or DNA “for the purpose of inclusion or elimination of their profiles,” according to a letter Williams sent to the sheriff’s office on Thursday that was obtained by CNN.

A separate letter from Thursday formally requested the sheriff’s office preserve all records related to the jailbreak, including surveillance video and electronic communications between staff.

“It is critically important to get all fugitives back into custody. But it is equally important that we identify and hold accountable anyone who facilitated or assisted with this historic jailbreak,” the district attorney wrote.

Former sheriff says there were multiple security lapses

“If you were manning the security system, you would have known a door was opening,” former Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman, who ran the jail from 2004 to 2022, told CNN.

“Especially in the middle of the night,” Gusman said.

He oversaw construction at the Orleans Justice Center, which re-opened in 2015 as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency project to replace older jail structures that were damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Gusman told CNN he has no idea how the inmates got into the pipe chase behind the toilet and sink, but emphasized they had to navigate through walls made with a “substantial” network of concrete molding about “5 inches thick” and mixed with rebar, which is re-enforced steel.

“And the pipe chase is secure; if you open the door in the pipe chase, an alarm should go off,” the former sheriff told CNN. “If you get into the pipe chase, it’s not like you are out. You still have to get to another door.”

Gusman added, “So however they got into the pipe chase, I don’t know, but once they got into the pipe chase, there was a door that they had to leave out of the pipe chase onto the loading dock.”

Seven arrested for allegedly helping escapees

A maintenance worker with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Sterling Williams, was arrested Tuesday. Williams, 33, is accused of “willfully and maliciously” assisting with the jailbreak, according to an affidavit. He faces one count of malfeasance in office and 10 counts of being a principal to simple escape.

Williams’ attorney, Michael Kennedy, said the worker was turning off water to an overflowing toilet after being told to do so and is “fully convinced” of his client’s innocence.

Six other suspected accomplices have also been arrested for allegedly helping some of the 10 escapees.

On Friday, New Orleans police announced the arrest of Casey Smith, who is accused of helping two fugitives. The 30-year-old was taken into custody Thursday in the city’s Third District.

“Smith admitted to her role in aiding the escapees’ transport along with Cortnie Harris,” who was arrested Wednesday for her alleged role in the incident, New Orleans police said.

Authorities arrested Trevon Williams on Friday in connection with the inmates’ escape. Trevon Williams, who was already in jail on unrelated charges, was rebooked on an additional charge of principal to simple escape, according to an X post from Murrill.

New Orleans police announced the arrest of Emmitt Weber, 28, on Friday. Weber faces a charge of accessory after the fact of simple escape, authorities said.

Meanwhile, another suspect, Corvanntay Baptiste, was arrested earlier this week after allegedly communicating with escapee Corey Boyd via phone and social media and helping him get food, Louisiana State Police said.

Another arrestee, Connie Weeden, is accused of sending cash via a cell phone app to escapee Jermaine Donald.

Audit at the Orleans Parish Jail underway

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections is deploying at least 10 seasoned auditors to the Orleans Justice Center this week to investigate the escape.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry tasked the department with auditing the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, to ensure they were in compliance with “conditions necessary to ensure the safe, efficient, effective and legal operation of a jail facility,” the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections told CNN.

The last audit of the facility was in 2014, over a decade ago, according to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, before the jail located in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood was opened.

A team of over 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officers and agents is working around the clock to capture the remaining missing inmates, according to state police.

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CNN’s Matt Rehbein, Rebekah Riess, Hanna Park, Cindy Von Quednow, Zoe Sottile and Holly Yan contributed to this report.