How Will Law Enforcement Track Down Remaining Escaped New Orleans Inmates?

How the escape happened

A worker at the Orleans Parish Justice Center is accused of helping 10 inmates escape by shutting off water to a cell, where inmates ultimately pulled a toilet from a wall and climbed through a hole behind it.
The worker claimed he was threatened by an inmate, and authorities are continuing to investigate the jailbreak.
Six inmates are still on the loose, and over 200 law enforcement members have joined the manhunt, which is being led by Louisiana State Police.

By Julia Guilbeau

Source The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

As a small army of law enforcement agents nabbed their fourth New Orleans jail escapee on Monday, a federal official warned it could take months to round all six remaining men up — an outcome that an expert said is almost all but certain.

After 10 New Orleans inmates broke out in a blockbuster escape, officials from at least eight local, state and federal agencies have joined in an intricate investigation focused on sifting through tips from the public, following those leads and interviewing friends and family of missing inmates, several of whom were jailed for violent crimes, officials said.

Authorities made some headway Monday evening, recapturing Gary C. Price, the 21-year-old charged in May with attempted murder, after tracking him down in New Orleans East. But Antoine Massey, Lenton Vanburen, Jermaine Donald, Leo Tate, Derrick Groves and Corey Boyd are still at large.

"It may drag into next month. To be honest with you, it may drag into July," said U.S. Deputy Marshal Brian Fair. "But we're hoping to make some headway sooner rather than later."

More than 200 law enforcement personnel have joined in the manhunt, which is now being led by Louisiana State Police. Among the other agencies involved are the FBI, the New Orleans Police Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals Service, Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, Orleans Parish Levee Board Police and New Orleans Harbor Police.

Fair said that authorities remain confident that all of the prisoners still on the run will be recaptured.

History is in their favor. In the U.S., the vast majority of escaped inmates are recaptured quickly, according to one study.

More than 90% of escapees are returned to jail within a year. Of those returned inmates, 82% were recaptured within a week, according to Bryce Peterson, a senior scientist at CNA's Center for Justice Research and Innovation who co-authored a 2023 study on escapes and recaptures.

More than 99% of inmates are recaptured within six months.

What makes New Orleans' most recent jailbreak challenging though, Peterson said, is the lag time before anyone knew those prisoners were missing. Almost 8 hours elapsed between the brazen escape and a morning headcount by jailers that turned up the breach.

Still, given their notoriety, Peterson expects the inmates to have difficulty remaining hidden.

"For what we're seeing here in New Orleans, it would be highly unlikely for them to either remain on the lam for a long time or to be able to just move to another state and restart their life," Peterson said.

Status of the search

The search for the escapees has been split into teams, with different agencies assigned to individual escapees. The manhunt is said to have stretched across state lines.

"With the extra amount of escapees, it does make it more difficult, because a bunch of information is flowing in," Fair said. The U.S. Marshal's New Orleans Task Force, responsible for fugitive investigations in the city, is working through tips called in by the public, he said.

Fair declined specifics about the investigation, citing risks to the search.

Peterson said it is generally common for law enforcement to start their search with family members of the inmate or witnesses in the accused's case.

Agencies are known to utilize specializes tools to assist with their investigations, such as facial recognition cameras and even heat-sensing technology, as in the 2023 case of Pennsylvania escapee who was recaptured after a 13-day manhunt.

Facial recognition helped police nab the first escapee who was captured, Kendell Myles, 20, who was awaiting trial for carjacking and shooting a man in Uptown New Orleans. after escaping from youth detention.

Alleged escapee Robert Moody, 21, was arrested in Central City in the 3500 block of Second Street at around 7:30 p.m. Dkanen Dennis, 24, was detained shortly afterward in the 6200 block of Dale Street in New Orleans East.

What researchers know about escapes

Despite the intense focus and scrutiny that New Orleans' most recent jailbreak has wrought, Peterson said that escapes are a much more common phenomenon — one that often goes unnoticed by the public.

"There's hundreds if not thousands of escapes that happen every single year in the United States," Peterson said, adding that a majority happen at minimum security prisons.

According to Peterson's 2016 study, violence or other criminal acts committed in escape incidents typically occur during the breakout itself.

Recorded violence in the community, which accounted for everything from a fight to murder, occur with less than one in 10 of the escapes that Peterson and his co-authors scrutinized.

However, the Orleans Parish jail escape "has the elements that make it more inherently dangerous to the community," Peterson said, citing he fact that many of the escapees were in the Orleans jails for murder or other violent felony charges.

"So of course, the longer they're out of custody, the more opportunity there is for them to commit violence," Peterson said.

Both Peterson and Fair encouraged residents to continue being vigilant. Anyone with tips can call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or 1-877-903-STOP or texting TELLCS to CRIMES (274637). The FBI can be reached at 1-800-Call- FBI.

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